<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Antediluvian by Lenabenaaaa</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24748045">Antediluvian</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenabenaaaa/pseuds/Lenabenaaaa'>Lenabenaaaa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>After episode 2 or 3 of Season 3, Avalance after 3x09, Canon-Typical Violence, Kind of apocolypse-y, References to Alias (TV), References to Fringe (TV), Season 3 rewrite, developing Avalance, eventual crossover with other Arrowverse characters, evil mad scientist, new legend, slowburn avalance, team fic, undercover as a family</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:55:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>51,626</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24748045</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenabenaaaa/pseuds/Lenabenaaaa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Legends begin helping the Time Bureau clean up the anachronisms they created, they stumble into a plot of a mad scientist and his soldiers that are tearing apart their timeline and, eventually, their world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Captain Sara Lance pulled the chest restraint up as the chair turned and she stood from her controls. "Okay, boys." She clapped her hands together, "Rip and the Time Bureau need our help. Since we broke time <em>and</em> their central time drive, we gotta help clean up our mess. They've sent us to Valencia, Spain to get an anachronism and bring it back to it's original time." She annoyingly recalled the discussion she'd had with Rip and Agent Sharpe earlier that day. The Time Bureau was quite inconvenienced by the Legends' sloppy attempt in helping with Julius Caesar, but since they'd proved to be their only option of containing the anachronisms until their central time drive was back online, Rip and Agent Sharpe begrudgingly agreed to Sara's mission for redemption by helping them restore the anachronisms to their original times. A central time drive Rip reminded Sara that <em>they</em> burned during their escape with the Waverider at headquarters. Anachronisms Agent Sharpe hadn't let Sara forget were <em>her</em> fault in the first place.<br/><br/>"So we're supposed to just wonder around Spain until we find an anachronism?" Nate asked.<br/><br/>"No," Jax set out a scanner ray with a small screen on the console. It looked like a radar gun. "The Time Bureau gave this to help us. It tracks things that don't belong in the current time. It should tell us where it belongs, too."<br/><br/>"So what's the plan, Cap?" Ray turned to Sara.<br/><br/>"We go in, find the anachronism, then return it to it's time." Sara ordered, "Piece of cake."<br/><br/>"I wouldn't speak so soon, Captain." Gideon objected.<br/><br/>Sara groaned. Of course it couldn't be easy for once. "What is it, Gideon?" She called to the ceiling, although she didn't really want to know the answer.<br/><br/>"Its <em>Carnivales</em>--the Spanish equivalent of Mardi Gras--this week and the day the anachronism appeared will be the biggest celebration of it." As the AI responded, the team could hear the genuine regret in the robot's voice.<br/><br/>"Okay, boys. You heard Gideon; go get your flameneco shoes and matador costumes. We're gonna fiesta." The Captain dismissed them to go get ready.<br/><br/>A few minutes later, the team was gathered again, this time in the fabrication room and dressed in traditional Spanish festive clothing, a crazy mixture of wild ruffles and bright reds and oranges. While they were getting together their weapons and shoving them in their clothes, Sara strolled closer to Nate. "Hey, how you holdin' up?" The Captain tried to keep her tone calm and casual.<br/><br/>"I'm... alright." He looked straight into Sara's eyes, so that she would know he's being honest. He was clearly still upset by Amaya's departure--Sara could tell--but he was working through it. Even just thinking her name these days were still painful, it all felt so fresh. But being with his team, and having the distraction of a mission, it meant a lot to him. "Thanks for letting me be in on this one. I'm ready."<br/><br/>Sara nodded. If she was in Nate's position, she'd want something else to focus on too. "I know."<br/><br/>She touched him lightly on his shoulder, hopeful that it could convey everything that her words couldn't, before she turned to the team. "Let's get out of here."</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/>They'd been surprised by all the people in the streets when they opened the cargo bay door, but they were shocked that pushing their way through the crowd was proving to be so difficult. Music blasted from every direction and every square inch of the main street they were on was filled with people. "How much farther?" Mick shouted, grumpily throwing his elbows right and left to shove people from their path.<br/><br/>"Second right!" Jax shouted, bumping into three separate people within a couple seconds as he looked down at the radar gun screen.<br/><br/>Some woman handed him a shot of some bright red liquid and Jax took it without realizing what it was. "<em>Arriba</em>!" The woman raised a shot of her own and dumped it messily into her mouth. Sara grabbed the shot from Jax, knocked it back, then shoved the kid forward before he could object.<br/><br/>The Legends ran single-file behind Rory who was clearing their path of the innocent, yet inconvenient, bystanders. "This is it." Jax called. "It says its a man. Old white guy. Supposed to be in 2032. He's in the middle of the square."<br/><br/>"I've got eyes on him." Ray shouted from the front of the team. "He's wearing a lab coat. Surrounded by a bunch of lady dancers in the middle of the square."<br/><br/>"Everybody, spread out. Mick, Ray--come at him from behind. Jax, Nate--you're with me. Make sure he doesn't run, he'll be way harder to find if he leaves the plaza." Sara commanded, feeling a sense of pride when her team immediately spread out to execute her plan. "Nate, they said he was a doctor. You talk to him so he doesn't get spooked and run."<br/><br/>Sara followed Nate and Jax to the center of the square. She kept scanning the square to keep eyes on her boys and as well as possible threats to their mission.<br/><br/>"Doctor--" Nate read his lab coat as soon as he pushed past the dancing flamenco ladies and was close enough to read it, "Mason. My name is Nate and I--" he didn't get to explain he was just tying to help before the doctor took off.<br/><br/>Jax touched his ear to activate his comm, vaguely wondering why they hadn't used them before instead of yelling over the raucous crowd. "Mick, Ray. He's coming your way." He shouted before he sprinted after Nate and Sara. By the time he caught up with them, they were in a clearing of a street around the corner and circled around the Doctor, who was laying on the ground unconscious. "What happened?"<br/><br/>"We got him." Sara answered proudly.<br/><br/>Ray high-fived Mick. "Nice hit." He congratulated the man, only earning a semi-satisfied grunt from Mick.<br/><br/>Nate looked around and saw that people were starting to stare at them. They were starting to make a scene. "We should probably get going."<br/><br/>"Rory, you knocked him out, you carry him back." Sara told him, just then noticing the onlookers beginning to crowd behind them and speaking in foreign tongue and confused tone. In truth, Sara would've told Rory to carry him back regardless of who did it; no one else could've lifted the man. Well, maybe Nate if he steeled up, but gathering from the disturbance they had already caused, Sara knew she made the right decision. Mick hauled up the Doctor and slung him over his shoulder. "Lets get outta here."</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/><br/>They were back in the bridge in no time. Their only problem was getting through the crowds. They'd taken several of the free shots offered along the way back and were feeling pretty good about themselves. Perhaps doing the Bureau's dirty work of collecting their anachronisms for them would finally be a job the Legends were capable off. Sara couldn't wait to rub it in Ava's face.<br/><br/>"Gideon!" Sara called to the ceiling, a soft smile playing on her face. The Spaniard's shots were just strong enough and it'd been a while since she'd gotten a little tipsy. "Where does the doctor live?"<br/><br/>"My records indicate that Doctor Malachai Mason went missing from November 11, 2032 from his lab just outside of Little Mountain, Colorado." Gideon informed.<br/><br/>"Set a course, Gideon." Sara instructed as she strolled into the gallery and poured herself a glass of the scotch Rip had left behind on the ship. She silently dedicated this drink to him in memorium.<br/><br/>"Absolutely, Captain." Gideon confirmed before adding, "You received a transmission from Agent Sharpe while you were out and she asked me to politely ask you to call her when you got back to the ship."<br/><br/>Sara brought the glass to her mouth and squinted her eyes playfully, "She said '<em>politely</em>'?" The Captain asked. That didn't quite sound like the Agent.<br/><br/>"In not so many words." Gideon held to her story, pulling a laugh from the woman, "Would you like me to call her now?"<br/><br/>"Yeah, sure." Sara downed the last gulp of her drink and stood, wiping her hands on her jeans and taking a few steps towards the screen of the gallery. The team had all gone back to their rooms for the moment, and she was alone. "Put her on in here."<br/><br/>It only took a few seconds of Gideon's ringing for Agent Sharpe's face to appear before Sara. "Hello, <em>Agent Sharpe</em>. You asked me to call?" The woman crossed her arms, waiting to see what the other woman had to say.<br/><br/>"Uh, yes. Hello, Sara." Ava stammered and Sara was immediately perplexed. "I, um, just wanted to say... Thank you, actually." It was clear she was uncomfortable, and Sara was determined to milk it.<br/><br/>Sara smiled and echoed, "Thank me?"<br/><br/>Ava steeled herself when she saw the coy game Sara was playing, but didn't let herself get complete to 'on-duty Agent Serious' level yet. "Yes." She opened her clasped hands and relaxed for only a beat, but Sara didn't miss how her walls were breaking down before her. "Uh, thank you for helping us with this mission. The Board would've been quite displeased if we hadn't found a way to keep fixing these anachronisms." She bit back the part where it was <em>their</em> fault in the first place, instead replacing the desire to jab with rambling. "The Board has been quite displeased with us lately anyway, actually, and... you know... funding is, unpredictable... As you can understand." Ava wanted to hid her face in her hands as she trailed off. Really? <em>Funding</em>?<br/><br/>Sara was pleasantly surprised, but suspicious, seeing through the Agent. "What did you really call for?"<br/><br/>"I... Wanted to see how the mission went." Ava admitted.<br/><br/>The Captain rolled her eyes. "The Doctor's in our hold right now. We didn't disastrously screw up everything."<br/><br/>"That's not what I meant." Ava quickly admitted. When she saw Sara's interested gaze, she realized she seemed too eager and settled herself. "I just... wanted to make sure you were okay."<br/><br/>Sara smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm practically a pro."<br/><br/>"Yeah, I know. I just.. I knew it'd been a while, since your... vacation. And I thought, you know, you'd probably be a little out of practice." Ava explained, attempting to backtrack.<br/><br/>But Sara was already on to her. This wasn't about the mission, Ava was calling to check up on <em>her</em>. Sara gambled, "I don't need practice." Based on how Ava fumbled over herself, Sara knew the other woman took her statement exactly how she intended.<br/><br/>"Um, dear God--" Ava laughed uncomfortably and the Captain reveled in it. Ava noticed the dark looked that seemed to pass over the other woman's face even through the video call. "Okay. Well, check back in with me after your mission. You know, to tell me how it went. Or, um, if you have time."<br/><br/>Sara felt smug. "I'll call you soon, Agent Sharpe."<br/><br/>"Captain Lance." Ava nodded curtly as a goodbye then hung up, leaving Sara leaning back against the desk smirking.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ray walked into the fabrication room, finding Mick and Nate already dressed in white medical scrubs, and Sara in a sharp white and gray jumpsuit. Sara had benched Martin from the mission because of his recent headaches, then subsequently sat out Jax too. Jax had grumpily said he'd needed to repair the ship from damages sustained during their escape from the Time Bureau anyway. "Is this what they wear in labs in 2032?" Ray asked. This was certainly way more uniform than he required in his labs, when he worked there.<br/><br/>"We don't know what kind of work he's doing in the lab." Nate tossed a set of scrubs and a lab coat at Ray, who barely and clumsily caught them, "This was the best estimate Gideon could give us, Doctor."<br/><br/>Mick shoved the rest of his pastry in his mouth and messily wiped his mouth. "What's the play, Lance?"<br/><br/>Sara was pulling up her hair into a neat bun at the top of her head. It wasn't the first time she missed having another girl on board, getting her hair tamed for a cover was difficult on her own sometimes. "Gideon said he went missing from his office, so we sneak into his building and get him as close as we can to there. We stay under the radar," she glared at Rory, "No shooting unless we're found out."<br/><br/>"Do we know where his office is?" Ray asked as he pulled off his shirt and shrugged on the scrubs and lab coat.<br/><br/>Sara shook her head. "Gideon couldn't find a map of this place in any records; something about his research being 'top secret'. So we'll have to find it when we're inside." She took a deep breath and straightened her scrubs before addressing the team, "Okay, boys. Lets head out and return this mystery doctor."</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/><br/>"This must be it." Nate said after he read the name on the door--the Doctor's name--and stopped the team. It was only a matter of time before one of the guards they passed thought to check their ID badges and they'd been searching for the office for longer than they had hoped they'd have to. Apparently they didn't use floor directories in 2032.<br/><br/>Ray stepped to the door and shook the handle, but it didn't budge. "It's locked." He explained, backing up so that Rory could bust the door down. Mick shrugged the unconscious Doctor off his shoulder and onto Ray who caught him only in time to gently lean him against the opposite wall.<br/><br/>Before Mick could kick down the door, they heard footsteps and voices from around the corner. Sara scanned the hallway and knew breaking into the office would attract attention they didn't want and couldn't afford while carrying around 200 pounds of dead weight. She heard a soft beep from the Doctor and turned to discover that when Ray leaned him against the wall, the Doctor's ID badge from his shirt pocket unlocked the door across from his office. "In here." Sara instructed as she opened the door.<br/><br/>The Legends filed in, dragging the Doctor behind them, and Nate quietly shut the door behind them. They stood still for several beats, hands hovering over their weapons and waiting for any sounds to indicate that they'd been discovered. When they heard the voices pass their door without incident, they sighed in relief and turned on the lights of the room they were in. It was a lab, as they discovered, and a big one at that. The room was medical white and gray and had many different counters and half walls that sectioned off different areas of the room. Ray found himself more than mildly impressed, the equipment of the room probably surpassed any level of advancement he'd thought science was capable of in the few short decades from his own time. The main instruments of the room, he recognized. The physical equipment of one area, and a clean desensitization tank usually used for meditation. He couldn't, however, speak to the wires and tools connecting to some of the areas and what their possible purpose could be in a lab of this caliber.<br/><br/>"We gotta wake him up." Sara moved further into the room, "We can't flash him until he's awake. And then we'll get out of here."<br/><br/>"There should be some kind of Adrenalin around here or something." Ray suggested, helping Mick drag the Doctor onto a gurney just inside the door, as if conveniently placed their just for them.<br/><br/>They spread out. Mick and Ray claimed the two corners close to the door, where there were plenty of counters and drawers and shelves to rummage carelessly through. Ray wandered casually towards the tank to inspect it. Nate and Sara went further into the room, where it was more bare. Nate's quadrant looked to be some sort of testing chamber, with a walled-off room and a big single-sided mirror. He silver'd up and barged in to continue their search.<br/><br/>Sara's quadrant was mostly empty, mainly physical equipment that she recognized from the many gyms she's used throughout her life, leaving only a couple shelves and a couple doors for her to clear. Quickly searching through the shelves and deeming them unhelpful and unimportant, the Captain moved to the first door--the one closest to the entrance. She easily opened the door, a little harder than she intended, expecting some resistance. The door revealed a shallow closet with strange medical equipment she'd never seen before and didn't care to know. She sighed as she closed the door--careful to be softer than when she opened it--and moved to the second door on the wall. On the other side of the metal door, Sara frowned. This closet was deeper and was filled with more domestic things. There were sheets and other cloths, enough rations to feed the Legends for months, and--strange enough--some kind of board games with foreign writing. Against one of the walls, there were several screens beeping and displaying charts and graphs and code. As Sara squinted indiscriminately at the information, she nosily wished she knew more about code than the fair amount she had learned with the League.<br/><br/>The Captain shrugged indifferently, focusing, and exited the room. She had one more door to clear, sure that's where they'd find the Adrenalin Ray had recommended, and was itching to get out of this place. It gave her a bad feeling.<br/><br/>Although the other doors had been unlocked, the final one had a manual lock. Sara smiled as she flipped the open hatch--of course they'd lock up the good stuff. As she opened the door and peered in, her smile fell. Behind the door was a long hallway, at least a couple hundred feet, leading to a heavy metal door. Now, she realized, something definitely felt wrong. A heavy feeling like a boulder sank to the bottom of her stomach. It was a feeling she'd grown familiar with over the years, and had gained a deep trust in. Sara isn't usually aware of why she feels it, unable to be cognizant of the millions of little factors that clued into her subconscious that manifests in such an intense feeling. But Sara knew that feeling had saved her life countless times. She knew better than to ignore it.<br/><br/>As Sara stepped to investigate, she heard Ray call her name from behind her, "Sara!" She turned to see the boys looking at her, "We found it!"<br/><br/>"Good. Inject him with it and flash him as soon as he wakes up." The Captain directed, subtly shifting in front of the door.<br/><br/>Nate nodded then moved to try to see past her into the hallway. "What's in there?" He asked.<br/><br/>"Not sure yet." She shut the door a little bit behind her, feeling strangely protective over it. "I'm going to check it out. I'll be right back." She said, justifying it to herself as checking out a possible threat. She wouldn't let the mission fall apart just because she didn't clear one more door. That would be irresponsible, and a way better justification than the bad feeling she has in her gut.<br/><br/>Sara stepped into the hallway, hoping the boys wouldn't screw up anything too badly while she was gone and she heard the door click shut behind her. The hallway was starkly white and she could hear the heels of her boots echo as she walked. It felt like walking inside your own mind, everything was so bare and seemed to have no choice but to reflect it's only occupant. The door at the end was... Strange. It was huge and reinforced, in a medical steel and had a hatch that Sara would've had to stand on her toes slightly to see through. <em>What could the Doctor possibly be hiding in there?</em><br/><br/>As she closed the couple remaining feet between her and the end of the hall, the Captain saw the door was locked only with a single deadbolt, which she thought was a strange juxtaposition next to the weight of the door. Sara's hand hovered over her staff, ready to grab it and defend herself in the case that whatever was behind the door wasn't friendly. Her free hand hesitated for only a second as she reached for the dead bolt, she was far too curious now to turn back. She knew it was stupid what she was doing, it could be anything behind the door. But the door was calling out to her, practically begging to be opened. Sara unlocked the door and opened it slowly.<br/><br/>The first thing she saw was movement and Sara instinctively grabbed her staff and extended it. As light flooded into the room, Sara saw it was mostly bare. She briefly cataloged the metal bed frame and bare mattress in the center before looking to what had moved, which was now in the corner.<br/><br/>It was a girl. The Captain couldn't tell how old she was as the girl's long dark hair fell over her face and her knees that were curled up to her chest, but she could tell the girl was small. And scared.<br/><br/>"No, please. No more." The girl cried, lifting her hands in surrender as she tried to sink into the wall.<br/><br/>Sara immediately holstered her staff and made a show of her hands to being empty, mesmerized by the girl's bright blue eyes that were accentuated by her red eyes from crying. "Woah, woah, woah." Sara lowered herself to the girl's level and kept a calm and steady tone. "I'm not gonna hurt you."<br/><br/>"You're one of them." The girl sniffled, tucking in her legs and arms tightly.<br/><br/>Sara couldn't figure out what the girl was going on about, until she followed the girl's eyes down to the nurse's uniform she was wearing. "Oh no no no," She smiled, trying to ease the situation, and took off the nurse's hat, "I'm going to help you." Sara gave a soft smile when the girl looked up and seemed to be listening. "My name is Sara. What's your's?" The girl wiped her eyes and Sara took note of the angry red marks around the girl's wrists, though she saw no other signs of injury so far.<br/><br/>"I'm Juliette." Her voice cracked.<br/><br/>"Nice to meet ya, kid." Sara debated initiating contact with the girl, but decided that could wait. "How about we get you out of here?"<br/><br/>"Out?" The girl echoed. She knew she shouldn't be so foolish. There'd been tests before; this could be one of them. But, somehow, the woman just seemed so real.<br/><br/>Sara stood and offered a hand down to the girl, sure that she wouldn't take it and Sara would have to drag the girl from here by force. She really didn't want to do that, as Sara was sure the girl had seen enough force for her few years. However; Juliette took the Captain by surprise--something Sara imagined she'd have to get used to with this one--as the girl's shaky hand reached out and placed her's in the bigger one.<br/><br/>They both froze for just a moment at the unexpected contact. Juliette felt the strength and warmth from the Captain's hand. She felt more safe in that moment than she had in as long as she could remember. Sara noticed the multiple needle marks on the girl's arms and how they were in various stages of healing. The most recent one was just beginning to scab over and could've been done in the past few hours. She felt sick. She genuinely couldn't remember the last time her stomach had reacted so strongly, her body violently rejecting the insinuation the needles brought about the treatment of this sweet girl.<br/><br/>Tucking away the few bits of information she had on the kid, Sara pulled her to her feet and stabilized her until she felt somewhat-sturdy. Judging by the red rims around her eyes, the girl hadn't been exposed to natural light in some time and Sara realized with a terrible horror that the girl might not be very capable of running fast and far. Or walking in any capacity. The Captain was about to guide the girl in a few shaky steps so that they could gauge her mobility when loud alarms and a blinking red light went off.<br/><br/>"Sara?" Ray poked his head into the door on the other side of the hallway, his voice carrying down to Sara with dense urgency. "We've got a situation. We flashed the Doctor and he woke up all confused and pressed the panic button and... Who's that?" He rambled before barely spotting the shadow that Sara was only then helping into the light of the hallway fluorescence.<br/><br/>"Her name's Juliette. Get her out of here and back to the Ship. I'll help delay whatever's coming." Sara ordered, grateful that it was Ray that came in. Ray had to be the best with kids out of all of them, Sara guessed.<br/><br/>Ray immediately suited up and sprinted towards them. "I'm going to carry you, is that alright?" He asked, looking into the girl's face for a closer look than from across they hall. He immediately noticed how her bright blue eyes contrasted with her tanned skin and the cute dusting of freckles over her nose, which made him initially underestimate her age when he realized she was really probably 13 or 14. He saw the hesitation in those blue eyes--sharp and clear--but after a quick judgement and a glance to Sara, the girl nodded.<br/><br/>Ray would've probably been able to lift her easily alone, but the suit allowed him to scoop her up and briskly run towards the door they had come into the room through. Sara followed them. She extended her staff as she cleared the door and barked off commands to the Legends, Adrenalin rushing and a small smirk playing at her lips as they spilled into the hallway. "Ray, get her to the ship. Nate, go with him to protect the kid. Rory, you're with me and we're holding off whoever that alarm called." Ray and Nate ran off with the kid down the hallway and she waited on the nod of confirmation from Mick. The Captain touched her comm, "Jax, ready the Waverider to take off as soon as we get back, it may get dicey out here and we'll need a fast getaway. Martin, I need you in the Med Bay."<br/><br/>"Is someone hurt?" Stein asked worriedly, having dropped his book to answer the command quickly.<br/><br/>Sara decided to answer as honestly--with the little information she had herself--as she could for this one. "There was a kid in Lab and she's not in great shape. Ray and Nate are bringing her back now and we're cleaning up the mess on the way back." The Captain vaguely heard several words of confirmation before following Ray and Nate out of the doorway they'd ran through several moments before.<br/><br/>In those moments, Ray, Nate, and the half-aware Juliette had gotten an impressive distance down the hall without incident. The girl focused on the sounds of the heavy steps of the metal suit carrying her and kept her eyes closed. The small triad came across a four-way intersection in the hallway and Nate lead them to the right. As soon as they turned the corner, Nate sensed tension. He steeled up just in time to block bullets from penetrating his skin. The hero saw a small militia of at least a dozen heavily armed men shooting at them and managed to push Ray and the girl to cover around the corner. What <em>is</em> this 'medical facility' that they're in and what is going on inside of it? There's no way a normal hospital or even a research facility should be this guarded. It was more like a jail.<br/><br/>"There's at least ten of them." He pulled Ray and the kid behind a corner to regroup. "They've got a lot of firepower. Like, a <em>lot</em>."<br/><br/>Ray looked to the girl in his arms, trying to make a fast decision. He didn't particularly want to leave the girl vulnerable, but there was no way that they could clear the hallway with his hands full. It was the only way back to the ship. "I'm gonna set you down." He was careful to keep his movements gentle from within his suit. "Just for a moment." Ray saw the girl was struggling to keep herself together. Her skin was wet and her eyes were tightly squeezed together in attempt to shut out the world. "Hang in there." He encouraged before rounding the corner with Nate.<br/><br/>The two men charged down the hall towards the group, bullets re-caching with small metal 'dings'. Nate nodded towards the group on the right, claiming them, and ran in flailing. He hadn't perfected his fighting technique yet, but luckily the steel seemed to be working enough in this fight. Nate was comforted as he managed to glace left, Ray's suit sufficiently defending him and his suit's motions playing an offensive move. Men were falling right and left, collapsing unresponsively into doorways or hiding behind drawers and counters of equipment. It took only moments and a few swings for Ray and Nate to take out the small army, The Atom holding the last fighting man still so that Steel could have the honors of punching him unconscious.<br/><br/>Nate gave him a goofy grin. "Thanks." They high-fived when all the men were down for good, gazing around their motionless battlefield with a sense of victory, before remembering their mission; the kid.<br/><br/>Ray rushed back to the intersection, really only a couple hundred feet behind them. Nate followed. They found the girl laying on the ground, visibly damp from stress and anxiety she must have been feeling. She had moved several feet from where they had left her and Ray inwardly scolded her for stepping into danger.<br/><br/>Further down the hallway, Nate noticed a pair of unconscious guards. He figured the girl was coming to warn them of the threat behind them and scanned her for possible bullet wounds. Upon finding none, he realized he felt grateful to the kid. She was brave, wanting to warn them, even though their re-cached bullets put them down anyway. Nate helped return her to Ray's arms. The girl would be rewarded for her bravery by safe passage back to the Waverider. For some reason, the Captain--and the rest of the Legends, by extension--had insisted on rescuing the girl. That reason was that she was, somehow, a misfit or an outcast like the rest of them. As Nate observed Ray gently carry her towards the ship in the empty field they had left it in, he could clearly tell she had been through some serious trauma. But, so had they all. Her bravery, though, made her special. Nate proudly returned to the Waverider with the girl.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As he entered the med bay, Doctor Martin Stein gasped sharply when he spotted the unconscious girl. When Sara paged him to come to the med bay immediately, he'd rushed there not knowing what to expect about the kid they'd barely mentioned. At first glance, the girl immediately seemed familiar to him, though he couldn't place why. He noticed how small she seemed in the chair, reminding him of how vulnerable the invincible Captain looked in the same position several months ago after her encounter with the death totem.<br/>
<br/>
"Who is she?" was the question Martin decided to ask first.<br/>
<br/>
"Her name is Juliette." Ray deactivated his suit and tucked it into his pocket, "Sara found her in the lab we just returned the anachronism to. We don't know anything else about her yet."<br/>
<br/>
Martin looked from Ray to the girl, watching him adjust the girl on the chair, and Martin wanted to ask him how they could've been so reckless. Bringing the kid back here could be dangerous. They had to think about the implications on the timeline. They were supposed to be the protectors of time, not changing with it when they felt like it. Not to mention that they don't know anything about the kid.<br/>
<br/>
But then Martin looked closer at the girl. There were needle marks on the inside of her arms, some older and several newer ones that'd just begun to scab. Red rings encircled her wrists, evidence of restraints that were not well liked by their captive. She seemed otherwise fine. The girl's dark hair was curly and messy, and though she was of a tanner complexion she had cute little freckles on her nose and cheeks. Martin couldn't tell what ethnicity she was--maybe Latina or Native American, or probably some kind of mix--but her skin contrasted heavily against the white scrubs she'd been wearing. Even though her eyes were closed, there were dark circles and red rims around her eye that made her looked exhausted, even while sleeping. But Martin couldn't help but notice how beautiful the girl was. He studied her, the feeling of familiarity nagging at him, like he recognized her somehow. Or something within her.<br/>
<br/>
"What happened to her?" The Doctor asked, mostly wondering aloud.<br/>
<br/>
Ray shook his head. "We don't know." The confusion of seeing her collapsed on the ground in the hallway passed over him once again.<br/>
<br/>
The girl started waking, slowly tossing in the chair, pulling the Doctor from his examination of her. Ray and Martin gathered at either side of the chair. Stein found himself fighting the urge to touch the girl lightly, to comfort her, and tucked his hands into his pockets for safe keeping.<br/>
<br/>
"Juliette?" Martin asked gently. "You need to wake up now, sweetie."<br/>
<br/>
A soft whine passed the girl's lips, before she opened her eyes. Where Martin was immediately fascinated by the striking green of her eyes, and Ray first registered the look of panic as she gasped and looked around the room. Gears were turning in her mind. She was about to make a run for it. Martin placed a hand on her shoulder, swiftly and softly as to seem present but not threateningly so. "It's okay. It's okay. You're safe."<br/>
<br/>
Ray stepped in, "Remember me?" Although he'd hoped to be a familiar face, he realized he hadn't had time to introduce himself during their close escape. "I'm Ray. I carried you out of the Labs."<br/>
<br/>
Juliette managed to calm herself enough to look up at Ray. She squinted at him for only a moment before the memories flooded back. She remembered the woman with the soft smile--Sara--coming into her room. She remembered Sara telling her she was getting her out of there--answering her greatest prayer. She remembered the warmth and strength she felt in the woman's grasp. She remembered Sara taking her to the man before her now, and she remembered his kind eyes and sturdy body as he held her in his arms. Juliette forced a small nod in recognition. The girl turned to the older man on her other side and gazed at him curiously.<br/>
<br/>
"And this is my friend, Doctor Martin Stein." Ray narrated.<br/>
<br/>
"Call me Martin, please." Stein insisted. "How are you feeling?"<br/>
<br/>
The girl's wide eyes looked between the men, thinking, before she swallowed thickly. "I feel..." She had a big decision to make with her answer, so she hesitated to think through what she knew of the situation. Clearly, this is one of Doctor's tests. And the trick to passing his tests and successfully avoiding... punishment, is to figure out what is being tested. But that's where Juliette was stuck. This wasn't one of those board games to test problem solving, or one of the obstacle courses to test her endurance. She wasn't rehearsing her chi forms to practice coordination or meditating to sharpen her focus. This... Juliette didn't know what to make of this. Whatever it is, once she passed it, Juliette could tell it would mean something important. Maybe its a sort of final test. It could earn her her freedom. But what would she need to prove before the Doctor and his associates would grant her her freedom?<br/>
<br/>
Her loyalty.<br/>
<br/>
This was a test to prove her loyalty to him. And she had to pass it to get her freedom. The girl didn't allow herself to think of the alternative--if she didn't pass. She had to play along. She knew all about the Doctor's tests. She needed to take note of the situation before calculating the expected response. In this case, it seems, she was purposefully extracted from her facility to see if she would choose to return. She needed to willingly return to the Doctor.<br/>
<br/>
"Tired. But I'm alright." The girl deflated as she answered. She knew she was foolish for believing Sara and the others were there to take her away from the Doctor, but these people were so... Convincing. Genuine. Juliette supposed that's why the Doctor chose them to carry out the final phase of testing. The girl didn't know, however, if they were working <em>with</em> or <em>for</em> the Doctor but gathered that the only difference it made would be in how empirical they would be. She couldn't imagine that these people are scientists--well, maybe the old guy--but decided that they were just subcontracted out by the Doctor's associates to complete the test. Which means that they'll likely be off-script and very convincing of their objective, to separate Juliette from the Doctor and fail her. But the girl knew that she'll be intentionally thrown many curve-balls and distractions in order to throw her off her objective. Including Juliette's well-known greatest flaw, her craving for affection and connection with others. The Doctor had used it as a red herring in many tests before, attempting to familiarize her with denying her most base personal needs. And surely, from the little she'd seen already, these people who 'rescued' her are superb at creating what the girl most wants. However, the girl knew she'd be severely punished if it were discovered any amount of disrespect, so she figured she must still submit to their authorities as adults and leaders of her test. She'll have to go along with their narrative and prove her loyalty in the right moment. They'd be watching. Juliette buckled down for her task.<br/>
<br/>
"Do you know what happened that caused you to pass out?" Ray asked.<br/>
<br/>
Juliette frowned. She hadn't really realized she'd passed out, but it made sense. She didn't remember how she got into this room. All the girl remembered was being set down against the wall by the younger man--Ray, she knows now--before him and the other man ran off around the corner. She got blurry glimpses of seeing two different men grabbing her, a brief struggle, and feeling damp all over. She must've passed out from pure Adrenalin or sensory overload. Juliette shook her head, "I... I don't remember. Sorry." <br/>
<br/>
"No need to be sorry, sweetheart." Martin assured her, suddenly feeling the need to comfort the girl. She seemed to be distantly thankful for it, as she nodded acceptedly.<br/>
<br/>
The doors to the med bay opened loudly, drawing their attention as Sara entered the room. "Hey, kiddo!" She smiled brightly. "How are you feeling?"<br/>
<br/>
As kind as Ray and Doctor Stein seemed, Juliette couldn't help but feel glad to be back in the woman's presence where she felt secure. "I feel tired." She repeated, shrugging.<br/>
<br/>
"I'd bet." Sara approached the chair the girl was in. Juliette pulled her legs criss-crossed and the Captain sat on the edge. "So I see you've met Martin and Ray." The girl nodded. "We have a couple more on the team; Jax, Mick, and Nate. They're around here somewhere." Sara glanced over her shoulder. She had told the team to reconvene in the med bay after they'd set their stuff down and finished what they needed to do. Sara shrugged and guessed they were either just being lazy or got distracted by something on the way here. The Legends weren't known for their lazer-sharp focus nor their pro-activity. Neither their sense of time and 'a few minutes', it seemed.<br/>
<br/>
"Where exactly is 'here'?" The girl dared to ask, unsure of the answer or if she even was permitted to ask questions of her own. It was worth the risk though, as she needed to know, and she was rewarded by it.<br/>
<br/>
Ray opened his arms proudly at his side, "This is the Waverider. And we're the Legends that use it to fix time." He grinned.<br/>
<br/>
"Waverider?" Juliette frowned. She didn't think she understood how all this fit into the narrative.<br/>
<br/>
Sara tried next, "We're on a ship with a time machine. We call our team the Legends. We're the ones that rescued you." Juliette nodded. Now she was sure she hadn't understood, but figured she'd figure it out later if it was important. Just like in the rest of the Doctor's O.W.L. tests.<br/>
<br/>
Juliette swallowed tears back rather unsuccessfully as she deflated. She knew what she had to do, and that the test would depend on her insisting on being returned to the Doctor. "You have to take me back."<br/>
<br/>
"What?" Ray, Martin, and Sara all asked together, horrified.<br/>
<br/>
"Why on Earth would you want to go back?" Martin asked. Now that he had seen her and knew just a small portion of her story, there was no way he'd let her go back. Flashes of the girl being restrained by ugly and sharp metal cuffs as she cried passed through his mind.<br/>
<br/>
Sara was shocked by the girl's request. She'd seemed so scared, huddled smally in the corner of the cell. She still seemed scared. "Absolutely not." She denied.<br/>
<br/>
"The Doctor will be looking for me." Juliette answered simply. She understood; prove her loyalty.<br/>
<br/>
Ray saw the face of the man they just returned to 2032 in his mind and was disgusted. "He won't find you with us. You're safe, he won't ever hurt you again."<br/>
<br/>
"You don't understand." Juliette worked to remain calm. She's not supposed to have guessed it's a test already. She has to play their game, play into their narrative, to escape the consequences. "He'll kill you. And... and, I'll be punished." She shivered. "I <em>have</em> to go back."<br/>
<br/>
In a different world completely, Sara's heart broke at the same time that she felt so frustrated, an emotion combination she felt often when it came to the injuries and afflictions of the Legends. They always handled those afflictions with a certain rogue, unflinching, and messy veracity, and Sara doubted this one would be any different--whether the girl liked it or not. "Juliette, look at me." She waited until the girl's green eyes met her blue ones. "He will not find you. You'll find that we're pretty capable of protecting ourselves. And now, you're under our protection. I promise we won't let him get to you." Sara didn't understand, but she thought that the girl would have no choice but to believe her. Sara understood being promised pain and torment, and the reality of those promises being so fulfilled that one is forced to expect them. Sara knew she could help this girl expect not suffering but hope from the Legends, like she had come to expect.<br/>
<br/>
Juliette nodded, but she was frustrated too. She knew that the test wouldn't be that easy, but hadn't expected the people hired by the Doctor to speak against him. For a moment, she was genuinely frightened for them, as she knew that bad things happened to those who cross the Doctor and his associates, but decided it must just be a ploy. A ploy in the narrative to disprove her loyalty. A ploy she couldn't fall for again.<br/>
<br/>
Once Sara thought the girl was starting to agree with her, a friendly smile appeared on her face. Although Sara had no idea who this Doctor Mason man was and if she could actually keep her promise to keep the girl safe from him, she intended on doing her best to fulfill it. The girl reminded her slightly of Laurel; they had the same tragic beauty and deep scars from loss of self. Sara knew she could help the girl find herself. "Alright." She stood from the seat and pulled the hem of her shirt down. "How about we get you into the guest room so you can rest, and then we'll talk more?" She glanced up to Ray, silently asking if he could take her.<br/>
<br/>
"I've got her." Ray nodded. He guided her from the room and to Kendra's old room, thinking about how long it'd been since he'd been there and how it's new inhabitant would give it good use.<br/>
<br/>
Sara and Martin stayed behind in the med bay. As soon as they were sure the girl was out of ear shot, they began discussion again in quiet voices. "What were you thinking, bringing a kid on board? We don't know anything about her." Martin began, expressing his own doubts finally.<br/>
<br/>
"You didn't see her, Martin." Sara crossed the room towards the water bottles they kept in one of the cabinets. "They had her locked in this tiny cell. It was so dark in there and she was alone. She was terrified of me at first, the fear in her eyes was... too intense. I couldn't leave her there." In truth, she'd been considering the same doubts concerning the girl and completely agreed with Martin's wariness. She had rationed the decision to rescue her to have been reckless and the decision to bring her onboard the Waverider to be dangerous, but Sara knew there was no world were she wouldn't repeat the decisions. The reformed assassin had plenty questionable morals and past decisions in her life to wrestle with, but condemning a child to that hell--whatever they were doing to her in that lab--was something she wouldn't have been able to reconcile. Sara knew Martin likely agreed with her, though he would insist on making the reasons it was a bad idea known.<br/>
<br/>
"But the timeline, Sara! We can't just go around changing it because we felt like it." Martin scolded.<br/>
<br/>
"There hasn't been a time quake, so the results couldn't be that disastrous." Sara twisted open the cap and took several big gulps of her water, "Besides, for all we know, the doctor kills her tomorrow in the lab and the only thing we're changing is saving her."<br/>
<br/>
"Exactly! We don't know anything about this girl. She could be dangerous."<br/>
<br/>
"We're all dangerous." Sara countered. The Legends are, in fact, partially made up of deadly villains. And they all have blood on their hands. Even Martin. Especially Sara.<br/>
<br/>
"Another great point!" Martin exasperated, crossing his arms, "The Waverider isn't a place for children. We could very well have rescued her only to put her in more danger from the missions we do. We're not qualified to get her the help or protection she may need." He thought about the needle marks and what kind of psychological damage the girl could've received.<br/>
<br/>
This was the point that Sara had been struggling with most; the inadequacy of them all to help this kid. Endangering the team and endangering the timeline were heavy decisions, but endangering the <em>girl</em>. That had never been Sara's intention but an inevitable consequence. Sara pinched her nose, allowing her defenses to finally tumble down. The stress of the decision had been weighing on her. Although she wished Martin could've been less annoying about it, the Captain felt validated in his arguments and objections. She honestly didn't know if she'd done the right thing; all Sara knew was that there was a young girl in danger who needed her help. And Sara gave it the best way she knew how. She hadn't thought very far into their arrangement with the girl on board, but used Martin's objections as points to consider in building a solution.<br/>
<br/>
"Her staying on the Waverider should only be a temporary thing. She only needs to stay here until we've found somewhere safer and better for her in 2017." Sara conceded.<br/>
<br/>
Martin crossed his arms as he pondered. "Perhaps that is the best course of action. We simply do not know anything of the situation with which we are currently involved, something that has proven dangerous in the past." The memory of the difficulty with the totems stung painfully.<br/>
<br/>
"Alright." Sara sighed. She knew Martin had a very valid point. It wasn't concerning the girl's damage or history; none of the Legends were really aware of what the others were truly capable of. Sara witnessed that when she'd had the death totem. She'd lost her control over her blood lust--her deepest fear--and almost killed her crew in the process. The team had been naïvely forgiving and accepting, in Sara's opinion, in light of the danger she'd put them in. But it's because of that potential danger that the Captain agreed with Martin. If she allowed the kid to stay, she'd be along for the ride--the perks of protection but also with the dangers of their responsibilities to time. Sara was sure that, if the blood lust reclaimed her again, she wouldn't be able to protect the girl from herself. "I'll ask Agent Sharpe for anything she can find on the Doctor and Juliette. But until Ava can find a good enough safe house, the kid stays with us. No complaints."<br/>
<br/>
Martin nodded in agreement. "No complaints."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sara ran a hand through her hair as she walked through the empty corridors of the Waverider, admiring the ship's walls and all they'd seen. It had seemed like ever since they'd gotten back to the ship after their fight with the Legion of Doom and their forced vacation, the Legends had been especially messy and desperate to prove themselves. They had, in fact, broken time and had fought hard for even the opportunity to start fixing their mess. <em>Well, "they" was a strong word</em>, Sara thought. She knew that it was her decision to go back and stop themselves that really screwed with time. A call that she made as a Captain that they all were paying for. A call that made Sara allow herself to think a little harder about her next big call; the kid. Her team had been through a lot recently. Sara sighed.<br/><br/>"Captain Lance," Gideon waited a beat for an affirmation from Sara, "You have an incoming video transmission from Agent Sharpe."<br/><br/>Sara rolled her eyes, wondering what the agent was going to scold her about this time. "Send it to my room, Gideon."<br/><br/>A minute later, Sara walked into her room. She shut the door behind her and signaled to Gideon to put on the chat. She straightened out her shirt just before the Agent's picture appeared on her screen. "Agent Sharpe, sorry to have kept you waiting. Official Legends business." Sara crossed her arms smugly and sat at the seat at her desk.<br/><br/>"That's alright." Ava dismissed easily. "I merely wanted to know how to mission went."<br/><br/>"I'm good. We're all good here." She simplified some, but decided she didn't want to ruin whatever was going on with Ava with the complexities of time travel and it's responsibilities. For once, couldn't they just ask about each other's days, like normal... <em>acquaintances</em>? "The mission went well. We returned the Doctor to the lab. No one was hurt, so that's a win in our book."<br/><br/>"That's great!" Sara fought the urge to roll her eyes at how surprised Ava sounded. "Sounds like a successful mission, with minimal... vicissitudes." She had to rack her mind for a nicer word for screw-ups in the sake of trying to play nice. She wasn't in the mood to start another argument with the other woman about the behavior of the Legends, and doubted Sara would be either.<br/><br/>"Yeah. Minimal vicissitudes." Sara echoed distantly. She guessed she wouldn't call the girl they picked up a 'vicissitude'. Try an entire curve-ball. It was never Sara's intention to lay more of a burden on the team than the protection of the entire timeline already did. But she couldn't really blame herself. After all the harm and pain she's caused to others over the years with the League, and especially during the years following her resurrection in the Lazarus Pit, she'd felt like she owed the world a debt. Laurel had convinced her to join the Legends, but her guilt had convinced her to stay after all that's happened. She was finally starting to repay the universe for the damage she'd caused, not that it could completely atone for the lives she'd taken, but it made her feel a bit better.<br/><br/>"Hey." Ava called and waited until Sara pulled herself back to the present and looked at the screen, "What's wrong?" She asked vaguely, open to any answer the Captain wanted to give. "You had a win today." Ava reminded her. If she were there in person and not restricted behind a screen, Ava would've dipped into the shorter woman's view so that Sara could see the look in her eyes.<br/><br/>"It's just--" Sara began but stopped herself. She's not sure if she should discuss this with Ava, someone so high up in command in the Time Bureau, who actually has some ability to dictate what the Legends do and don't do. Not that Sara would listen if the Agent would prohibit something they wanted to do. But Sara decided that she <em>wanted</em> to talk about it, and that if she was  going to talk about it, she'd like it to be with Ava. "When we searched the lab before we dropped the Doctor, we found this girl. She was..." Sara hesitated, trying to find the right words for the haunted way Juliette looked at her. "She was <em>terrified</em>. And hurt. They had her locked in this little cell, alone in the dark and it seemed like the kid was only like, 13. So we rescued her."<br/><br/>"You took her back to the Waverider?" Ava clarified neutrally.<br/><br/>Sara nodded. "I couldn't just leave her there." She wasn't defensive this time, like she had been during her discussion with Martin. The Captain, stripped of her defenses, found she was just heartbroken by the situation the girl was in.<br/><br/>Ava saw this. "I understand." She concluded. The Agent wanted to question Sara more, but decided the former assassin had other ways to she needed to work through her thoughts than by interrogation. The Agent within her wanted to know all the facts, wanted to determine if that was a wise and logical decision. But Ava saw that Sara was looking to her for a friend and an ear, not a breakdown of the facts. So she vowed to listen. For Sara.<br/><br/>The couple beats of space that Ava allowed was rewarded by Sara when she chose to voice her thoughts. "The way she looked at me when I found her... She was huddled in the corner and crying. I managed to calm her down enough to get her talking some. But I will always remember the way she looked at me when she grabbed my hand. She's so small and vulnerable, but I could tell this kid has been through some serious shit. I saw..." She drifted off.<br/><br/>"Yourself?" Ava suggested. She could see how a small girl with some deep scars would certainly remind Sara of herself.<br/><br/>Sara contemplated the idea. She was terrible at 13. Just coming out of her preteen years, she was already finding herself in plenty of trouble. "Yeah, myself, I guess." Upon comparison, she imagined she'd looked very similar during her time as Ivo's captive on the <em>Amazo</em> to how she'd found the girl. "But also my sister." She fought the quiver that threatens her voice, as even the thought of her sister now seemed to bring physical pain to her chest. "Laurel was... Gentler than me, but she always had so much fight in her."<br/><br/>"It must run in the family." Ava demurely smiled. Sara had never mentioned her family before, and was secretly hoping her comment would inspire the Captain to go on some long tangent about her family or childhood. Anything about herself, really, would do.<br/><br/>And Sara surprised her. "You know, I've died a couple times." She meant it as a joke, but the way Ava's face grimaced told her she'd been unsuccessful. "But the first time was the worst. I was twenty when I was stranded on the island, just a dumb kid really. The next couple years were hell, on the island, then with the League. I did some terrible things."<br/><br/>"To survive." Ava knew she shouldn't interrupt her from bearing her truth, but she need to remind the woman; the terrible things she did weren't completely her fault. She'd seen her file.<br/><br/>"Yeah, but I still had a choice." Sara insisted darkly. "I hurt and killed a lot of people. And when I got out of the League, after seven years of hurting people, I finally had the opportunity and skills to pay penance. I became the Canary when I would patrol Starling City and stop women from getting hurt. Because I identified with them; they were defenseless to the situations they found themselves in."<br/><br/>In Sara's pause, Ava considered what she was telling her. "So you saved them." She concluded, in awe of the woman on the screen before her.<br/><br/>The Captain nodded. "Before I was the captain of the Waverider, it was the only time in my whole life that I had felt like I was doing something good. Something right." She lingered on the warm feeling of justice saving those women in Starling City gave her. But then shook her head. "But it wasn't enough. Some people say that dying is like walking into a bright light. That it's warm and soft. But I didn't feel anything. It was just cold, and empty, and I was so <em>alone</em>." Her voice cracked at the feeling, and she had to stop to take a deep breath, pulling herself together. "I thought that was all I'd feel, for the rest of eternity. But then Laurel brought me back, and I still felt cold and empty. Eventually, I found my way back and worked with Ollie, then found my way to Rip and eventually found my purpose again with the Legends. But when I found that girl locked in that room, I <em>knew</em> what she was feeling. She felt dead, the cold and empty dead that I'd felt. And somehow, I just knew that the Legends could save this girl too, just like how Laurel brought me back and the team lead me to my purpose. It's my penance."<br/><br/>Ava sat quietly, absorbing what Sara had shared with her. She knew that the woman wouldn't need her words of pity or sorrow. She needed action. "So what are you going to do with her?"<br/><br/>"I'm not sure yet. Martin seems to think it's a bad idea to have a kid on board, especially someone we don't know anything about." Sara sighed.<br/><br/>Ava saw her opportunity, her chance to show some kindness to the weather-worn Captain, especially seeing that the kid clearly meant something to her. "I could look in the databases at the Bureau, see if I can find anything on the girl or if her future has been altered."<br/><br/>Ava was rewarded with the relief evident on Sara's face. "I'd really appreciate it, Ava." They both paused for a beat, wondering if it's the first time they'd used a first name directly with each other. Of course, the Legends referred to the Agent as only Ava when they tease the Captain, and Sara would admit she usually referred to her only by her first name when recounting her orders to the team. But Sara using it in casual conversation with Ava herself felt... personal. It felt good; like some kind of figurative step forward. Towards what, she wasn't so sure yet. "While you're at it, could you look into the Doctor too? The kid seems to think he's particularly dangerous."<br/><br/>"Yeah, of course. Just send me his info when we're done here." Ava agreed. She grabbed the nearest pad of paper and scribbled some notes of the things Sara had asked her to look into. Not that Ava could ever forget them. She wouldn't let the other woman down.<br/><br/>Sara felt relieved. She hadn't even had to ask for Ava to do the extra homework. It was important to the Captain to know what they could be dealing with in the girl, to satiate Martin's qualms of her. She felt a heavy duty to the girl, similar to the way she felt about Cid, but did not feel that justified an added risk to the safety of the team. "Will do. The plan with the kid is to keep her here, until we can find her somewhere safe away from this 'mad scientist' dude."<br/><br/>"I can start looking into safe houses too, if you want. But I'll need the Legends to do something for the Bureau in the mean time." Ava bargained, segwaying into the next topic she intended to discuss on this call.<br/><br/>"So you didn't want to just see how we are?" Sara questioned teasingly.<br/><br/>"Although I, indeed, did want to know, the Bureau also has things that need to get done."<br/><br/>Sara casually nodded. "I understand. What do you need us to do?"</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/><br/>"Alright, Legends. We got a fresh one." Sara began as the rest of the team gathered around the large table in the center of the galley. She'd given them the rest of the hour after she got off the phone with Ava to relax, but Sara was starting to get antsy. She hated just waiting around for things to happen, and welcomed any distraction until Ava found something that they could use about the kid or the Doctor.<br/><br/>"How long do we have to keep doing the Bureau's missions?" Jax groaned. He crossed his arms grumpily and plopped down in a seat near the door.<br/><br/>Several of the Legends nodded in agreement, exactly the kind of cooperative behavior Sara Lance had hoped and dreamed for. "Yeah," Nate added, "Don't they have any other people to keep bothering? We <em>just</em> finished a mission for them."<br/><br/>"Well, seeing as we damaged their time drive system when we stole the Waverider back--their only other operational time drive--no, they don't." Sara concluded. She knew the team didn't really mind the missions (honestly, they had nothing <em>better</em> to do) but she found that keeping their current arrangement in its temporary perspective helped best when morale was low. "So, while they're finishing repairs, we're going to 2069."<br/><br/>"What's in 2069?" Martin asked.<br/><br/>"More like, what isn't in 2069." A voice grabbed their attention from the main bridge. There stood Agent Ava Sharpe and she was holding a rather large container by a handle. The container was at least four feet long but skinny and didn't sit too heavily in the Agent's grasp.<br/><br/>The Legends watched as the woman stiffly crossed into the room, eyeing them each carefully. The extra moment she spent on Sara wasn't lost on anyone. "What's in there?" Ray asked.<br/><br/>"A gun." Ava said simply as she set the container on the center table. "A <em>really</em> big one. Lithium powered and as deadly as a World War Two atomic bomb." She unlocked the case with a few pushes of a digital lock to allow everyone a peak at the gun inside before shutting it once again. It was an intentional choice Sara recognized and respected. Even though their missions usually fell apart completely, they were still highly-trained and intelligent people that valued knowing what they were dealing with.<br/><br/>"What's a gun like that doing in 2069?" Jax asked.<br/><br/>"What's a gun like that doing anywhere?" Martin added. His question was more of an answer. He was shocked by the creative ways men came up with to destroy themselves.<br/><br/>Ava stepped back from the case and pulled her hands behind her back as she silently debated how much information she should give. "In 2069, a small band of rebel extremists will overthrow a fascist government that has taken over Europe. This gun is instrumental in that revolt."<br/><br/>"Cool." Mick grunted from against the wall. "Sounds like a party." He lifted a frosted donut from his plate to his mouth and bit into it.<br/><br/>"Where'd you get that?" Sara frowned, "I want one." Her bottom lip jutted out in a pout and Agent Sharpe couldn't restrain a grin at it and at the sudden conversation change from revolts to donuts that gave her whiplash. The Legends certainly were a chaotic group and as much as Ava enjoyed discipline and regime, she found it endearing to see the Legends' soft moments. <em>Sometimes</em>. When they weren't disobeying orders, trying to screw up the timeline, or being utterly infuriating to just annoy Ava, it seemed.<br/><br/>"Yeah, what the hell, dude?" Nate threw his arms out to the sides. "You know the rules; you bring enough to share or none at all."<br/><br/>Mick grumpily covered the plate of donuts with a big hand, restricting the team's view of it. "Bring your own." He snapped, mumbling as he shuffled from the room.<br/><br/>His exit snapped the Captain back on track. "So, the gun went missing from an old World War Two bunker in Paris, France on May 7th, 2069. That's where we will be returning it to." Sara crossed her arms over her chest. "It'll be similar to the drop we did with the Doctor. Sneak in, drop it off where it disappeared from or as close as we can get, and get out as quietly as possible. Got it?"<br/><br/>"What does security look like in the bunker?" Ray--ever the thoughtful--asked.<br/><br/>Ava had come prepared for this. She pulled out a large paper from her back pocket and spread it evenly on the table. "These are the schematics for the bunker. After you get past the guards, you'll enter from this door, go down these stairs immediately to your left, and straight down the hall to the room at the end." She ran a finger over the parchment. "Get past the locks, leave the gun in there. Then get out before anyone sees you."<br/><br/>"Should we carry flashers on us?" Jax suggested.<br/><br/>Sara looked to Ava, reading her expression, before turning to answer Jax's question. "That's probably a good idea." The Captain moved to face her team. "Alright, guys. We don't need to play dress-up this time. Lets just get in and get out. Touch down in fifteen." She watched as the team separated to get their stuff together, bid Ava goodbye, then went to her own room to gear up. It was gonna be easy-peasy, just an in-and-out. Sara tucked in a couple extra knives to her belt after that thought crossed her mind. 'In-and-out' was what their last mission was supposed to be, after all.</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/><br/>Juliette startled as she heard the banging noise over the music that filled the room. Her quarters had been silent after Ray dropped her off and it'd panicked her. It felt like she was trapped in a cell again, just bigger and with more furniture this time. Ray introduced the girl to Gideon before he left with instructions to ask the AI if she needed anything. When the familiar claustrophobia began to settle in, the girl'd called out and Gideon recommended the "jazz" (whatever that meant) that was playing now. The foreign sounds were exciting and perplexing to Juliette, and her growing panic had been forgotten; until the banging, of course.<br/><br/>The doors opened and Juliette completely expected the Doctor to stroll in and tell her that the gig was up and she'd failed because of the nonsense she'd allowed herself to be distracted by. Instead, the doors revealled Ray. "May I come in?" He asked, politely waiting just outside the walls.<br/><br/>The girl's eyebrows furrowed. She didn't really understand the question. Why was he asking <em>her</em> permission? Hesitantly and suspiciously, Juliette nodded.<br/><br/>"J.J. Johnson?" Ray pointed happily to the ceiling, indicating the music. "A Legend of his own time." He grinned, reminiscing before a clueless kid, then remembered his purpose. "We're going on a mission. Wanted to let you know."<br/><br/>"A mission?" Juliette repeated back, confused.<br/><br/>Realization dawned on Ray as he remembered that the girl hadn't been given much information on who they were or where she was. "Like Sara said earlier, we're on a time machine/ship called the Waverider, right?" He checked the girl for a sign of understanding and continued when he saw the girl nod. "Well, it's difficult to explain, but basically we made a mistake while trying to save a lot of people, and ended up breaking some rules. As a result of that, a bunch of things and people are in the wrong time--like Doctor Mason. We found him in 2009 but he belonged in 2032 with you." He was trying to make a comparison that she could relate too, but saw the mention of the Doctor made the girl's body completely tense up. Ray quickly moved along. "So we are trying to put all these things in the wrong time back to where they belong... Kind of like Time Custodians."<br/><br/>Though the idea seemed very foreign and certainly impossible to the girl, Juliette nodded again. She thought she was starting to understand what the narrative of the test was supposed to be.... Something about time and it being broken and these "Legends" trying to fix it. The Legends help people. Emboldened by that idea and playing along, she couldn't force down her curiosity. "So, where are you going now?"<br/><br/>Ray leaned casually against the wall of the small room, not wanting to get too close and startle the kid. Especially when he knew how difficult and surprising processing all this time stuff can be. "2069."<br/><br/>Juliette's jaw dropped. "But that's... in the future?" It didn't make sense to her <em>at all</em> why this would be part of the test that the Doctor planned, but then again, she didn't understand much that the man did to her. Maybe the Doctor thought that time travel was the only way to make her feel truly 'on her own' so that she would practice her loyalty in a vacuum-sort arena.<br/><br/>"Exactly." Ray smiled. "This ship can travel all through time. I've been to many different periods myself, my personal favorite being with the Vikings." He paused to consider. "Actually, maybe my favorite was ancient Camelot."<br/><br/>Juliette felt frustrated for several seconds, before giving up and laughing. Ray thought the girl's giggle was adorable. "I don't know what any of those things are." The girl admitted.<br/><br/>Although all previous jest was gone--weighed down by the severity of the girl's situation--Ray forced himself to appear calm and not shaken by the girl's comment. "Then I'll have to send Nate in to give you a brief history lesson when we get back. Though I can't guarantee that it'll actually be <em>brief</em>." Ray grinned. He loved talking about history with Nate, and was sure he wouldn't mind catching the kid up. Or maybe 'catching the kid up' was a huge understatement.<br/><br/>"That sounds nice." Juliette agreed warmly. The idea fascinated her. Even though she was sure this was some elaborate test by the Doctor, she'd grasp at any information he'd give her beyond the boring textbooks she'd been allowed to read during her <em>very</em> limited free time.<br/><br/>"Great." Ray made a mental note of it, he wouldn't forgive himself if he forgot to tell Nate immediately. "But I really should get going. We'll come check on you when we get back, I'm sure Sara is making a great game plan about what we're gonna do with you as we speak."<br/><br/>"Sara's coming?" The girl brightened at the name.<br/><br/>Ray noticed. "Yep. Me or Sara when we're done, maybe both of us. We'll figure this out, Juliette. Don't worry." He gave the girl a meaningful look that he hoped conveyed how deeply he meant it. "Why don't you get some rest. We'll be back soon." He started towards the door, when a deflated voice stopped him.<br/><br/>"I don't... sleep well. Hardly ever, actually." A haunted look crossed her soft features.<br/><br/>Ray also cataloged that--it was another problem he fully intended on tackling with the poor kid. As soon as they got back. "We'll work on that soon. Just try to rest, or maybe wash up if you feel like it. We won't be gone long." He watched as the girl laid down in the bed. The bed was only full-sized, and the girl still looked tiny in it as she curled into a ball and closed her eyes tight.<br/><br/>"See you soon, Ray." Juliette tried to keep it light, but it came across as a semi-desperate question in need of assurance.<br/><br/>Instead of being annoyed and snapping at her, like she expected, he gave a soft "See you soon, kid" before leaving the room with a kind wave.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Professor strolled into the kitchen, ready to fabricate some granola before their mission, when he ran into Nate. "Oh, hello, Nathaniel." Stein greeted as he crossed into the room and towards the food fabricator. Nate was grumpily pushing around granola in a bowl. Martin only thought an extra moment about it because Nate hardly ever left food on his plate, uneaten. The older man had used to feel constantly amazed at how much the younger could consume, until he'd accepted that it was just Nate's normal to have seconds... and thirds. And on days someone actually cooked, it could get up to fourths.<br/><br/>"The mission today, it seems quite... beneath us, doesn't it?" Martin commented, just in an attempt to pull Nate into a conversation. When he realized it wouldn't get a response a beat later, he tried again. "I have always wanted to go to Paris, though." He sighed. "However, I never would have guessed that I would actually go. Especially not in a time machine."<br/><br/>"Amaya wanted to go to Paris." Nate dismally grumbled. "She said it was about as opposite of her village as she could imagine." He vividly remembered the lazy morning chats they'd have in his room often when they were together. At first, early in their relationship, Amaya had spoken of the grandiose of Chicago that she'd read of growing up. Nate couldn't quite understand until they visited together in the 1920's and he, too, was fascinated by the city's temperament. But after their week-long trip, they were both satisfied of the dream and had their sights set on the City of Love for their next excursion in the time ship when Mari showed up on their TV screen, leading Amaya to go back to her hometime. And leaving Nate devastated and with an unfulfilled itinerary for a romantic week in Paris.<br/><br/>Martin sighed, "Ah. So that's what all this has been about." The older man craftily approached Nate, as if physically offering his ear.<br/><br/>"All what's been about?" Nate asked, setting down his spoon and crossing his arms.<br/><br/>"<em>This.</em>" The Professor mildly motioned around the younger man. "The sulking."<br/><br/>Nate stood to place his bowl in the sink, skillfully avoiding eye-contact with the Professor. "I haven't been <em>sulking</em>." Upon the Professor's skeptic gaze over the top of his glasses, Nate had no choice but to concede. "So what if I have been? Amaya's gone and though she's just a jump away, I can't even go see her."<br/><br/>"Because of the timeline." Martin finished knowingly. The irony of being able to change time but not their own pasts or futures definitely frustrated them at times. "Nate, everyone that comes on this ship has to face this dilemma eventually." He watched as Nate perked up--even if just so slightly--at the admission. "I mean, look at Sara. She just lost her sister, don't you think she wants to go save her?"<br/><br/>"I know, I know." Nate said. "That doesn't really make this any easier."<br/><br/>Martin stopped and pondered for an extra moment. There must be something else other than just the timeline that's frustrating him. "I think I understand." He took a seat next to Nate. "It feels different when it's someone you love and care for, right?"<br/><br/>Nate solemnly nodded. "I'm sorry about Sara's sister--I really am--but she <em>died</em>. And Sara's <em>angry</em> about it. She wants vengeance. I just want Amaya."<br/><br/>"I see." The Professor looked to his hands. "It's difficult when the one you love is alive and well, but just out of reach." Martin pondered for a moment. "You know, our situations are very similar." When Nate seemed to perk up even more, now attentively listening, he continued. "With Amaya needing to fulfill her role in the past, my daughter Lily is doing the same in the future."<br/><br/>The Professor saw the objection forming on the younger man's lips--undoubtedly to deny the similarity--so Martin landed the plane and got to his point. "I want <em>so</em> badly to take this ship and glance through her life. I want to know the date she gives birth. I want to know when Lily will die, eventually. I want to know when my granddaughter will fall down and scrape her knees for the first time and I want to know it, so that I can stop it. But I can't look into the future; what if me stopping her from falling, hurts her in the long run? Changes her?" Martin sighed. "There's no way to know what defines a person. Their experiences make them who they are--who they're supposed to be. You can change the future, and you can change history, but you shouldn't change someone's destiny. We can't know the consequences."<br/><br/>"Couldn't we just... go to look?" Nate suggested, uncertain. He knew the idea sounded pathetic--to just go spy on their loved ones--but the desperation of even just <em>seeing</em> Amaya again pushed him to voice the idea.<br/><br/>Stein shook his head. "There's need to prolong the suffering, Nathaniel."<br/><br/>Nate took a long pause, considering. He knew that he couldn't change Amaya's history (future?) because that would alter Amaya's family that she valued so much, but Nate hadn't considered what would happen if he did get what he wanted--Amaya's return. Amaya's granddaughter Mari wouldn't exist and wouldn't become the Vixen and save the people in Detroit. That was Amaya's legacy, something that was important for Amaya to be in her village to develop. Some might even call it her destiny. Nate would have to find peace that Amaya's return to Zambesi meant hundreds of people rescued in the following years, though it was painful to let her go. He was reassured that Martin understood and felt the same frustration, and that it was a normal part of being a Legend. "You're right." He ran a hand through his hair. Desperate to turn the attention away from how sucky the situation was, Nate's interest was caught by the reminder of Lily's impending pregnancy. "How long until Lily's due?"<br/><br/>"A few more days." Stein answered happily. "We set up a way to video chat, so I've gotten to talk to her everyday. She's on bed-rest, so she's had plenty of time." True to the day he found out about her as an anachronism, Martin completely adored his daughter and spending any time he could manage with her, even via video chat.<br/><br/>Nate smiled. It was nice to see <em>someone</em> on the team so excited and animated about something. "Has she picked out a name yet?"<br/><br/>"Last I heard, she was between Tess after <em>Tess of the D'Urbervilles</em> or... Juliette." The Professor trailed off pensively. Maybe the name of the girl they'd rescued was what seemed so familiar about her to him. For some reason, he allowed his mind to wonder. If Lily gave birth in 2017, by 2032--the year they found the kid--she'd be... <em>No, no, no</em>. Martin chastized himself. There was no reason to think that there was any correlation between Lily's child and the girl they'd found other than their similar age. And Little Mountain, where--upon reflection--he remembered was where his wife Clarissa grew up. And the possible name, though Stein thought Lily was surely going to choose Tess despite his fondness of the Shakespearean name.<br/><br/>"Crazy coincidence, huh?" Nate laughed, standing from the table and leaving a baffled Martin sitting. "Your daughter might name her kid the same name as the kid we just found. Weird. Thanks for the pep talk though, I feel loads better." He patted the Professor on the shoulder as he left the older man alone with his thoughts and Nate's dirty dishes.<br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/><br/>The way in which Captain Sara Lance swaggered through the hallways of the Waverider after a mission couldn't be described with any word less than '<em>powerful</em>'. Her blonde ponytail swayed behind her, slightly damp and curled from sweat, and she brushed the dirt from her pants from where she'd had to slide on the floor to take down a man twice her size. She shook the tension from her body as she walked and rolled out her left shoulder from a hit she'd taken. Sara silently cursed the Legends, swearing that if they hadn't been so distracting she would've seen the extra guard coming at her and could've avoided the blow.<br/><br/>The woman allowed the last of the tension to be released from her muscles as she reached her destination: what they had designated as the 'guest room' after Kendra had left the ship, and no one had really been in it since. After Rip left, Sara had moved into his room, claiming that it was "just enough bigger" than her old room. But honestly it was created as the Captain's quarters to be only a few steps from the galley <em>and</em> the closest to the only bathroom. Nate had taken Sara's old room when he had come aboard, and Amaya had taken the room that had been empty since... Snart. But since Amaya left, Jefferson insisted on having it, insisting that he would <em>not</em> share a room with Martin any more. Sara rolled her eyes at the drama changing the rooms had caused over their time on the Waverider. You'd think a bunch of grown ass adults would be less demanding about their bedrooms. But, honestly, Sara didn't mind much.<br/><br/>The Captain lightly rapped on the door, to alert it's occupant of her arrival, before touching the screen to the door. The door opened to the girl cozily bundled in all her sheets and Sara counted at least two blankets. She was cocooned in the back corner of her bunk and had been staring intently at the screen in front of her until she saw the Captain enter. Sara noticed Juliette seemed so... domestic yet still very, very fragile. The girl's hair was wet and stringy now and her face was clean enough for Sara to really see how weathered she was. Despite that, she seemed more human now, more full of life and <em>way</em> less sickly than before. "Can I come in?" Sara asked before she stepped into the room.<br/><br/>Juliette picked up on her respect for her privacy, same as Ray, and tilted her head--perplexed--but nodded nonetheless.<br/><br/>"I see you took a shower?" Sara prompted, taking a few steps into the room.<br/><br/>A smile broke onto the girl's face. The warm water had invigorated her and she'd felt cleaner and better than she had in a long time. She never got to take warm showers; only baths with chilly water. "I did." She nodded happily, before the expression suddenly fell apprehensive. "I hope that was alright?"<br/><br/>"Yeah, yeah, of course." Sara waved her off easily. "We'll have to give you the grand tour of the place soon anyway, it's good to know you already know where the bathroom is--there's only one on here, ya know." She pulled a smile back to the girl's face and basked in pride at the sight.<br/><br/>"Mr. Ray said that you guys went on a mission?" Juliette rotated her cocoon to face the Captain, ready to listen interestedly for anything she would say.<br/><br/>Sara chuckles at the title, "Just Ray is fine, kiddo. And yeah, we were in Paris."<br/><br/>"<em>Paris</em>?" The girl leaned forward, dreamy-eyed. "What was it like?"<br/><br/>The Captain was taken by surprise by the girl's intense interest. "You got something with Paris?" She probed lightly, teasing but genuinely curious.<br/><br/>Juliette leaned back, as if fondly slipping back into a memory. "One of my... Nurses. My favorite. I think she liked me too; she would tell me stories sometimes. She said her and her husband were going to go there for their honeymoon, but they couldn't get the money. They were planning to go next year for their fifteenth anniversary. She told me all about the pictures she saw and stories she'd heard from people who'd been. The city sounds magical. I'd never thought I'd be even remotely close to it." Juliette smiled warmly. And--<em>just</em> for a second--she let herself get lost in the fiction. How lucky was she that this test provided so much free access to information? Usually the Doctor's associates were very tight-lipped about leaking details not specifically related to her test.<br/><br/>Sara, on the other hand, was surprised. She was surprised that this girl--who had clearly been through hell and back--would so readily offer such a cherished part of her as this favorite nurse must've been to her. Sara suspected the girl held lots of surprises. The Captain was also mildly alarmed; she'd obviously been aware that the girl's incarceration was unideal, but the fact that Juliette would cling so desperately to mere <em>stories</em> of the outside world clearly showed the girl had been locked up tight... for a long time.<br/><br/>At Sara's hesitation of a response, Juliette felt herself start to feel embarrassed by the memory she had shared. Of course this strong, independent, fierce woman wouldn't want to hear about her silly, second-hand stories. She was pathetic.<br/><br/>But the Captain noticed the girl's enthusiasm start to deflate and jumped to reassure her. It was important to Sara to encourage the trust starting to form. "The city...." She grasped at ideas of what to say. They hadn't exactly been there on vacation and it was night, but they had walked maybe 20 minutes after getting off the Waverider to their targeted bunker. And she'd been there once or twice before, so she had a few details to amalgamate and share. "It was beautiful. It was Spring there and there looked like there were flowers everywhere. The whole city smelled like bread and there were musicians in the street and couples holding hands." She recalled the team having to stop for a croissant on the way because they hadn't eaten.<br/><br/>"Couples holding hands?" The girl echoed romantically.<br/><br/>Sara laughed, "Alright, that's enough Romeo." While she was laughing at her own joke, Juliette had a strange pang of vague confusion.<br/><br/>"Who?" The girl asked, lightly laughing too. She'd grasp at straws any day for anything the kind woman would be willing to share with her.<br/><br/>"Maybe when you're older, kiddo." Sara shook her head and caught a glance of the girl's screen. "You're watching Star Wars? You've got good taste."<br/><br/>The girl glanced over to her screen, confused until she remembered that was the name of the movie she was watching. "Well, it wasn't all me, exactly. I haven't seen a movie like this before. Gideon picked it out." Upon further speculation, Juliette isn't sure she's ever actually seen a movie before. She wasn't sure a short demonstrative video of an exercise compared at all to the work of art she was lucky enough to be watching now. Inwardly, she could feel herself getting sucked into the ruse, sure this was a part of the trick to distract her from her mission; to return to the Doctor. But, as guilty as she felt, she couldn't bring herself to demand she be brought back yet and end the test. Juliette would do almost anything to stay here with these kind people that had taken her in for even a day more, damn the consequences she'd face when she's inevitably returned to the Doctor.<br/><br/>"Good call, Gideon." Sara called behind her, into the empty room.<br/><br/>The AI immediately answered back, "I figured we should start her with the basics, Captain." Sara could've sworn she heard something within the mechanical voice... Pride? Amusement?<br/><br/>"Mind if I watch the rest with you? This is one of my favorites." Sara asked, though the memory of forcing Laurel to watch it and the Indiana Jones trilogy with her over and over as a kid haunted her. She wanted to experience it with the kid, wanted to know how she'd react to the TIE fighters attack and to the destruction of the Death Star. Sara wanted to gauge and figure this girl out totally.<br/><br/>Juliette managed a nod as she was already scooting over her cocoon on her bed. She'd never had anyone <em>ask</em> to spend time with her before. She smiled as Sara kicked off her boots and nestled her way next to her on the bed and ordered popcorn from Gideon.<br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/><br/>The movie had ended a couple minutes ago, but Sara hadn't dared to move yet. She'd watched Juliette's sleepy struggle devolve into the girl's eyes finally fluttering closed maybe 15 minutes from the end. Sara smiled as the girl gave up in her fight against exhaustion, laughing at how the girl would react if she knew she'd fallen asleep during one of the most influential battle finales of modern scifi. She'd taken the popcorn bowl from between them and sat it in her own lap in case the girl was a fitful sleeper. So the Captain had watched the familiar ending by herself, unable to keep her eyes from glancing over to the resting girl every couple seconds. And, after watching the entirety of the ending credits, contently watched the girl sleep. Sara was considering why she find the girl so... Special.<br/><br/>"Captain Lance." Gideon quietly called into the room, somehow sensing that the kid was asleep. The title still sometimes confused the woman for the briefest of moments, half expecting her dad to be standing near her even though she knew it made no sense.<br/><br/>Sara absent-mindedly answered, "What is it Gideon?"<br/><br/>"We will be arriving back in Starling City 2017 shortly. Your presence is required on the bridge for landing."<br/><br/>"I'll be there in a minute." Sara responded, not yet moving. She wanted to watch the girl sleep for just a minute more before she'd have to wake her. She wondered if this was what Laurel felt when she'd fall asleep on her lap during their times together growing up. Unfortunately, the moment passed quickly and Sara placed a hand as gentle as she could manage on the girl's cocooned shoulder. "Juliette?" The girl stirred immediately, opening wide eyes and glancing around the room before landing on Sara. "We're almost back to Starling City."<br/><br/>"Starling City?" The girl's eyebrows furrowed, "You mean--"<br/><br/>"It's not the Starling City you know." Sara stopped her from finishing her question. She absolutely did not want to know what was in-store for her undoubtedly ill-fated hometown in the future. "We're in 2017 now. It's from when we're all from."<br/><br/>Juliette could only nod. This whole "time travel" thing was going to be difficult to get used to. She couldn't help but question, again, what the rhetoric of a fictionalized time travel would be in the narrative of the test. But often times the tests are very, <em>very</em> challenging. This must be part of it.<br/><br/>Sara's stomach rumbled, reminding her of their business back in town. "We've been going for a couple days straight, so the team is taking a break tonight and having a team dinner. Go get ready and I'll meet you on the bridge." Sara said as she slung her feet off the side of the bunk and pulled on her boots.<br/><br/>She was tying them when she heard Juliette ask a quiet question, "I'm... Invited?"<br/><br/>Honestly, Sara hadn't considered that the girl would think anything of the invite. She realized that it was possible that the uncertainty in the kid's voice was expressing fear, that maybe she wouldn't want to go, but knew that leaving the kid unattended on the ship that long was a no-go. Besides, it would be good for the girl to get out some, and under the Legends' protection she'd be safe.<br/><br/>Sara decided to play it cool, like the team dinner wasn't a big deal--because it really wasn't, they had one all the time--so that the kid wouldn't panic or anything. "Yeah, of course. Everyone on the ship goes." She tied the laces of her boots and stood up with her hands on her hips and surveyed the kid. "But you should probably change out of the scrubs. Gideon can make you anything you want to wear." The Captain watched as the girl looked down at her clothes--apparently forgetting she was still in medical scrubs. And judging by the lost expression on her face when she looked back up, Sara knew the girl knew nothing of choosing clothes or outfits. That was something Sara could fix, though not her forte. The Captain wished--not for the first time--there was another woman on board. She thought back to what she like at Juliette's age and to what she saw kids wear in the streets. "Well its summer, so kids your age usually wear maybe colored shorts and a solid colored shirt. Maybe a cardigan if you want one."<br/><br/>"Thank you." Juliette smiled, deeply relieved.<br/><br/>Sara nodded. "See you on the bridge in a few."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sara was adjusting the shields and landing gear from her seat at the front of the bridge when she heard many sets of footsteps enter the room. She'd summoned them as soon as she sat down, knowing it'd take them several minutes to actually show up. That was over 15 minutes ago, when she'd started the landing that she'd half completed already. "Okay, boys, where do we wanna go for dinner?" She called the dreaded question over her shoulder. Whenever they went out to dinner together--which was occasionally, but not very often--making the decision of where to go almost always lead to a big fight. The only exceptions occurring if it was <em>on</em> someone's birthday or if there'd been a recent death particularly close to someone. Since neither of those situations really applied today, Sara figured she'd get the fight out of the way already.<br/><br/>There was a beat of silence before Ray cleared his throat. "I heard of this sushi bar that just opened that's supposed to be really good." He suggested, then stopped to ponder, "Actually, I'm not sure if it opened in 2017 or 2021. I can't remember."<br/><br/>The Legends blinked as they looked around at each other. "You can't remember? Then why bring it up?" Jax asked. "I say Thai."<br/><br/>Nate shook his head, already starting to get a little annoyed, "We had that yesterday. Maybe American? Everyone likes burgers."<br/><br/>"I will not be eating anything so greasy and unhealthy." Martin objected astutely. "Its bad for your heart."<br/><br/>"Everything's bad for your heart, old man." Jax playfully nudged him.<br/><br/>"But I like it." Nate whined, "And we never choose what I want."<br/><br/>"I think we should go American, since Nate never gets to choose." Ray provided back up. Nate leaned over in his seat to knuckle-bump his best bud.<br/><br/>"Nate chose <em>last</em> <em>time</em>." Jax complained, snappy. "I'm also not down for clogging all of my arteries today."<br/><br/>"Okay, okay," Sara rolled her eyes from the safety of her Captain's seat, "Pizza? We could get a couple to share." She was annoyed. Why couldn't they do anything without making some big deal?<br/><br/>"That's a no-go. Remember the Pizza Incident of Florence 1889?" Ray reminded her. The entire team shivered. They'd made a rule that they couldn't get pizza for team dinners after the disastrous trip to Italy a couple months ago, during their fight with the Legion of Doom. They were all stressed from being one step behind the Legion for months and had decided to blow off some steam with an excursion dinner to Italy. They arrived and couldn't decide on which toppings to get, which immediately started a huge brawl that escalated and left them all bruised and/or bloody. It had been a huge mess not worth repeating. After dragging themselves back to the Waverider, the abstention of pizza was quickly put into place with intention to keep the peace. Gideon was even programmed to prohibit a time jump that had specific intentions of a team dinner at a pizza place.<br/><br/>"Of course." Martin agreed, trying to settle the tension and frustration. "How about Mexican food?" Now that he thought about it, enchiladas sounded <em>really</em> good.<br/><br/>"Absolutely not." Mick grunted, deciding to step in with his opinion then offered a grumpy explanation, "It upsets my stomach."<br/><br/>"You know what bro, <em>you</em> upset my stomach." Nate cracked. <em>Of course</em> Rory would make an objection for a stupid reason. If everyone did that, they'd <em>never</em> pick a place.<br/><br/>"Watch it, kid." Mick warned as rolled up his sleeves.<br/><br/>Heywood tensed angrily. "With you having a bad attitude, we're not gonna find somewhere to eat, <em>dude</em>."<br/><br/>"It's okay," Ray quickly stepped in, trying rather unsuccessfully to diffuse the tension, "That's fine. Maybe somewhere--"<br/><br/>"You know--"<br/>"Why can't you just--"<br/>"Hey, everybody needs to--"<br/>The men erupted into an indistinguishable dull roar of a fight. Sara pinched the bridge of her nose, waiting for the argument to reach peak--<em>loud</em>--volume and intensity before she'd step in.<br/><br/>Luckily, she heard a clear voice through the 'discussion' before Sara could even muster up any energy to go about finding a solution. "Isn't there a place we could go where everyone could get what they want?" Sara didn't need to turn around. She'd already recognized the voice as Juliette's, soft and somewhat high in timber as the only other female occupant's.<br/><br/>"Yes!" The Captain was quick to agree. "We can go to a buffet! I know just the place." She remembered a bigger restaurant from when she was a kid that was less likely to throw them out for eating too much or making a raucous.<br/><br/>Sara dared to glance over her shoulder for the first time since the team entered and she'd asked the where-to-dinner question. The boys were sitting, strapped in their usual seats in a semi-circle behind the Captain's chair. Juliette was standing half way to the doors, a few feet behind Ray's chair, and Sara couldn't help grin at the young teen's outfit. The girl was sporting light-washed jeans that were intentionally big on her but not baggy and featuring several gaping holes, one on each lower thigh and one slightly below each knee. Her white sweater had "<b>hrtbrkr</b>" in big black letters across the front and she had black vans tied up with yellow laces, which matched the yellow hat sitting backwards on her head. The team was quiet as they scanned over the girl, surprised by just how much she looked like a normal early-teenager out of the scrubs and clean. It was shocking, really, to most of them. The small, fragile girl they rescued looks like any normal young teen on the street with just a bit of rest and a hot shower.<br/><br/>"You look nice, kid. Buckle up." Sara was careful to reassure her before giving the command. The kid was sure to have no sense of self esteem and Sara was determined to start her's healthy.<br/><br/>"You clean up well, freshie." Jax laughed, eliciting a soft laugh from the girl as well. Clearly, Juliette felt completely out of her element, but the visual acceptance of her self-perceived <em>strange</em> appearance allowed her to let go of the breath she'd been holding. She was sure to send an appreciative glance to him.<br/><br/>Ray pointed at the open seat next to his', "You can sit here. You have to pull down the chest plate." He pointed so the girl could follow.<br/><br/>"And you'll want to." Nate added, "Sara's landings get a little rough sometimes." Juliette smiled as she slipped into the seat next to Ray. The argument had quickly turned into playful banter, showing the girl that, deep down, the team really did care for each other.<br/><br/>"Oh, I'll show you a 'little rough' next time we're training together, Tin Man." Sara called back to them, causing laughs and more banter between the Legends as she landed the ship in 2017.</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/><br/>Sara paused at the edge of the buffet area to pull out her phone and type out a text.<br/><br/><b>Sara: We're just getting food now. Sure you don't want in?<br/></b><br/>She got an immediate response.<br/><br/><b>Director Sharpe: Thanks, but I have paper work to finish before we meet. Rain check on dinner?<br/></b><br/>The Captain smiled at her phone. In truth, she hadn't wanted to share a dinner with Ava with the team anyway.<br/><br/><b>Sara: Definitely. I'll text you when we're done, might be about an hour.<br/></b><br/><b>Director Sharpe: I'll be waiting :)</b><br/><br/>The Captain heard footsteps coming closer and quickly closed her phone. She slid it into her back pocket and looked up. Mick was standing in front of her with two full plates of food. "What are you smiling about?" Mick nodded towards her phone. Sara hadn't realized she was still smiling. "Ava?"<br/><br/>"Shut up, Rory." Sara rolled her eyes. Sometimes she really hated how the team seemed to read her so well.<br/><br/>Mick grunted, but Sara knew he somehow understood. She appreciated his concern, but enjoyed her privacy. "Well you should get your food now, before its all gone." He suggested then went to find a table.<br/><br/>Sara raised an eyebrow, considering that Mick could be right. They'd never cleaned out a buffet before, but they also rarely worked over two full days straight with hardly any breaks like they had just done. The Captain realized she hadn't seen anyone eat actual meals in the mess, just snacks, and was infinitely more glad they decided to take the night off. She hadn't meant to have them work so hard for so long after the strain of their forced 'vacations' from each other and was glad to take a breather from the work to enjoy each other's company.<br/><br/>And then there was the situation with the kid. Sara scanned the restaurant and found Juliette's hat bobbing at the far side of the room between two bodies that would be identified as Ray and Jax. The girl looked confused and the men were excitedly pointing at different foods and piling them on her plate. Thinking about it, Sara assumed the girl hadn't ate most of this stuff before and wouldn't know what to do with all the options. Sara vaguely identified with the feeling, recalling how crazy she went with the foods she'd missed once the League let her leave Nanda Parbat for missions. She'd ate<br/><br/>Over on the opposite side of the room, Jax and Ray were explaining the difference between jello and pudding as they picked up a smaller dessert plate and piled them both on. "Now, some people say dessert is for <em>after</em> the meal." Jax began.<br/><br/>"But, science doesn't reflect any difference in consequence resulting from when you eat it. So, as Legends, we usually eat it first or during the main meal." Ray instructed.<br/><br/>Juliette smiled conspiratorially. She'd been allowed <em>maybe</em> a handful of sweets in as long as she could remember, always sneaked to her by her favorite nurse. The amount of options she's been suddenly presented with made her mouth water and her eyes grow big. "What's your favorite?"<br/><br/>"That, my young padawan," Ray placed a hand on her shoulder affectionately, guiding her along the dessert table, "is a <em>very</em> complex question."<br/><br/>"With a <em>very</em> complex answer." Jax finished.<br/><br/>A minute later, the trio took their seats at the circular table with Mick, carrying two plates each--one of normal food, and one piled high with different desserts. Mick himself had several plates on the table and was already making his way through his second, which was comprised of different kinds of meats. Nate and Martin approached the table and placed their double plates down before sitting themselves, deep in conversation. "I think, historically speaking, that beaches have always been the best vacation spot. For example, wealthy ancient Egyptians would travel and relax on beaches as a symbol of status and a way to separate themselves from the common people." Nate stated.<br/><br/>"Well, maybe in ancient times. But nowadays, vacationing in the mountains is a far better deal." The Professor argued. "Getting unplugged from today's technology and business is an important and necessary process for our psyche. The body needs it."<br/><br/>"No way, Martin." Jax shook his head in disagreement, munching on a brownie, "The body needs the better place to vacation, which is a beach. The warm sand, the ocean breeze." He recalled fondly. Even though they'd been off the ship and on mandatory 'vacation' after they broke time, he'd been working the whole time. Jax regretted not visiting the beach during his time 'off', but hadn't really anticipated ever being wrapped up in all this time business again.<br/><br/>Ray objected. "I heavily disagree! When I was a boy scout, we would hike through the woods all the time. I've never been happier."<br/><br/>"You're wrong, haircut." Mick grumbled between bites, "The beach in Aruba is the happiest place on Earth."<br/><br/>"What about you, Sara?" Ray asked, watching as Sara approached the final empty chair. "Beach or mountains?"<br/><br/>Sara thought for a beat as she carefully set down her plate. Her only plate had been piled high with her favorites from the buffet, as she was a believer in pilling high rather than having many plates or going back for seconds a bunch of times. She answered decisively as she took her seat between Mick and Stein and across from Juliette and Ray. "For a vacation? Like, a long one? Definitely the mountains. I love the beach and the sun, but there's nothing like the security of a cozy cabin in the middle of the woods."<br/><br/>"So we're three and three. We need a tie breaker." Jax counted up then pointedly looked to the kid next to him. "Juliette?"<br/><br/>The girl had only been somewhat listening to the conversation. She'd been distracted by tasting and savoring all the new foods. She hadn't expected that everything would taste so <em>rich</em> and so <em>good</em>. "<em>Uh</em>..." She swallowed the mouthful of mac and cheese. "I'm not sure. I haven't been to either. I think I'd prefer a beach though."<br/><br/>"See? Majority wins. The beach is the superior vacation spot." Nate gloated, leaning smugly back in his chair. "Legends approved."<br/><br/>"Okay, okay." Ray conceded, "A good beach is great to visit, but a bad beach is terrible. I guess it just depends on which one you go to."<br/><br/>"Has anyone ever been to Coney Island Beach?" Martin asked. "I used to go there all the time when I was about Juliette's age." The girl looked up at the mention of her name.<br/><br/>"I've been, when I was younger than her. I used to go with my dad and sister all the time." Sara volunteered between bites, then looked at Juliette. "You'd like it."<br/><br/>"What's so good about it?" Juliette was desperate to soak up all the information she was offered. Especially about somewhere some of the Team had history with. Maybe if she'd pass her test with the Doctor, they'd take her?<br/><br/>Sara and Martin both smiled fondly. "I guess it's pretty touristy, but there's white sand and a really nice stretch of water. And a huge boardwalk with a farris wheel and games and food stands."<br/><br/>"When I went as a kid," Martin recalled, "The games were a nickle to play and you could win all these stuffed animals. I think I got a stuffed koala from there."<br/><br/>"Its alright, for a beach." Mick shrugged, then modified, "Its not topless though." He laughed to himself in some distant memory, and apparently decided to share. "When Snart and I were a little older than the kid," he motioned towards Juliette, "We found this topless beach on a private part of a lake outside of Central City. It was the first place we ever robbed together." He sighed proudly and sipped a beer that he'd carried in his jacket. "But not quite the first place we got away clean." The Legends laughed.<br/><br/>Juliette followed suit, not quite understanding why that was so funny but laughed along anyway. "Who's Snart?" She asked.<br/><br/>The laughter quieted slowly and smiles fell off everyone's faces. The girl looked around lost. Ray noticed. He felt bad that the girl didn't know that was a sore spot and didn't want her to feel guilty. He swallowed and spoke up. "He used to be a member of the team."<br/><br/>Juliette scanned the table, slowly coming to understand she'd struck a nerve. She saw the especially pained expression on Sara's face and the grimace on Mick Rory's. "What happened to him?" She asked timidly, barely over a whisper. She knew she should just let it go, but she hardly knew anything about these 'Legends' other than they were morally questionable heroes. Had they gotten into trouble? Had they killed him because he wasn't pulling his weight? Suddenly all her fears came to the surface.<br/><br/>"He sacrificed himself." Sara said, suddenly. She tried to keep the bitterness from her voice. "We were destroying a weapon before these bad guys could get to it. The mission went south and we got caught in a hard place. Snart was the only reason we got out. He saved us."<br/><br/>"Oh." Juliette said awkwardly, but was secretly relieved. Concerned--sure--but also relieved that her fears were unsubstantiated. The Legends truly were heroes in most every aspect, but they had lost some along the way and it'd left them changed. They seemed fiercely protective of their team. She was honored to be with them, even temporarily.<br/><br/>"What was he like, back then?" Juliette surprised herself--and the rest of the team--by asking and breaking the silence. "When he was my age, I mean." It was a risk, but Juliette figured she'd ask anyway. She wanted to figure out the Legends, and what made them into what they are now. Maybe, if she knew what they were like when they were her age, she could gauge her potential relative to them and determine if she could ever be worthy of them.<br/><br/>When Mick nodded, Juliette knew she'd done the right thing and recovered well. "He'd always had a knack for finding trouble, especially when he was your age. Snart was 14 when he first got in trouble for it, though. I hadn't known him then, but he was always so smart and planned ahead. But he were young and sloppy, and got caught lifting a wallet off an undercover cop. They let him off with a slap on the wrist, though." He downed the rest of his beer.<br/><br/>They sat in silence for a moment, pondering over their individual memories. Sara interrupted it, pulling everyone from their own minds, "Well you all met me as a teenager." She forced a laugh, willing everyone to believe it and move away from the pain of Snart's death. "I was such a brat. Also had a knack for finding trouble. And bad boys." That earned a laugh as the Captain sipped her water. She nodded towards Ray, pushing the conversation along, "What were you like at 15? Have you always been such a big nerd?"<br/><br/>Ray laughed. "Well, actually, when I was 15, I had <em>lots</em> of friends. I was finishing up my coursework for high school, but I was really busy becoming an Eagle Scout and leading the astrology and biochemistry clubs." Ray looked around cluelessly as the rest of the table shamelessly chuckled over their plates. "What?"<br/><br/>"Nothing, bro. Nothing." Jax assured him.<br/><br/>"What about you, Jax? What were you like when you were 15? You know, last year?" Martin asked curiously.<br/><br/>"Oh," Jax grinned, sighing as he leaned back in his chair, "I was a punk. I didn't take anything seriously really, until Stein found me." He sent a meaningful look to the older man, who nodded acceptingly.<br/><br/>Sara's phone went off and she immediately turned off the ringer before it could go off again and someone could say something about it. But it was already too late. She knew the Legends had heard the ring but hoped, for just this once, they'd mind their own business and not ask about it.<br/><br/>"Who's texting you?" Nate asked, slightly confused, and shattering Sara's hopes for some privacy, "Almost everyone who would text you is here."<br/><br/>"Not Ava." Mick said absently as he shoved the last of his food into his mouth and stood to get seconds.<br/><br/>"Shut. <em>Up</em>. Mick." Sara seethed over her shoulder to Mick's fleeting form, still deciding if she should take a swing at him or not.<br/><br/>Juliette frowned. "Ava?" Was she another Legend she hadn't met yet?<br/><br/>"She's an agent at the Time Bureau that's been busting our asses ever since we took the Waverider back." Nate provided.<br/><br/>"She's also the woman Sara has it sweet on." Martin added smugly, causing the Legends to to howl laughing.<br/><br/>"Mind your <em>business</em>." Sara shot a dangerous look to each laughing man individually before turning to the girl. "When we took back the Waverider from the Time Bureau, we broke their other time drives during our exit. So we've been working with them, through <em>Agent</em> Sharpe, to return the time anachronisms to their original time until they fix their time drives and can do it themselves."<br/><br/>"And until Sara can--" Jax started, cut off by a powerful punch to the shoulder by Sara. Nursing the shoulder hadn't stopped his laughing, though.<br/><br/>"Jax, I swear to God, I'm gonna--"<br/><br/>Ray leaned to cover both of Juliette's ears with his hands. "<em>Sara</em>," he warned while looking between her and the girl, "The <em>kid</em>."<br/><br/>"I'm not a kid." Juliette whined, swatting the hands away as the rest of the team laughed.<br/><br/>"Right, right. Of course." Sara played along as she stood from her seat. "But I've gotta go. I won't be gone long; go straight back to the Waverider when you're done." Sara shrugged on her coat and walked away, calling over her shoulder, "And do <em>not</em> 'forget' to pay." She left the team at the restaurant to go meet Ava for the information and, hopefully, answers.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter Seven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Agent Sharpe heard the sound of her door opening and looked up from the papers fanned out around her desk. "Sara!" She stood to greet the other woman, stepping around her desk, "Please, come in." Ava notioned for her to come further in the room.<br/><br/>Ava shut the door and looked to the woman in her office, subtly admiring her. Sara usually dressed very casually and although the Agent <em>certainly</em> didn't mind the way the woman's tank tops gracefully exposed her intense muscles and collarbone, Sara's current outfit was an exciting change. The blue of her shirt made the color of her eyes seem to glow. Ava hadn't seen the black leather jacket she was wearing before, but noticed how worn and well-liked it was. On her way in, the Agent took note how her jeans fit in all the right places and how the Captain's shoes had a bit of a heel to them so that Ava didn't have to look down so much.<br/><br/>Sara had noticed how long it was taking the Agent to say whatever was clearly on the tip of her tongue. She narrowed her eyes, "What?" She smirked as she stuck a hand in her back pocket.<br/><br/>"Uh..." Ava pulled herself together with a shake of her head, "How was dinner?"<br/><br/>"Great! We ate at this buffet in the Glades. Everything was going pretty smoothly when I left." The Captain ran a hand through her hair messily, wondering if she'd just jinxed it and now the Legends were going to burn the place to the ground without her there. She'd better get back soon to babysit them. "Did you find anything out for me?" She asked hopefully.<br/><br/>Ava, remembering the purpose of the meeting, sat on the edge of her desk and reached back to grab the files she'd collected. "I haven't had time to go through them yet, but I found some information on your doctor." She offered the stack over.<br/><br/>"What kind of information?" Sara accepted the files and began flipping through the top one.<br/><br/>"Nothing specifically regarding the kid you mentioned." Ava sadly announced, and when she saw the disappointment weighing on Sara's face, she was quick to continue, "But she could still be in here somewhere. We pulled all the data we could find on his research and projects. We'll just have to manually look for any clues that might be referencing her; the old fashion way."<br/><br/>The Captain nodded in agreement. She handed Ava a few folders then sank heavily into the chair next to her with her own stack. Sara began reading through her second file as she asked, "How's it going with the safe house?"<br/><br/>"Not well, actually." Ava informed, pursing her lips as she scanned a page so that she wouldn't have to see Sara's disappointment again. "I was having a difficult time justifying the funds with the Bureau. I can still make it happen without them, but I can't go through my usual channels so it will take more time." She glanced up to watch Sara sigh and dramatically close one folder and open the next.<br/><br/>"How long?" The Captain asked eventually. If she absolutely had to, she could probably get in touch with some contacts she'd had during her time with the League. But it was far riskier and absolutely last, last, <em>last</em> choice. It could be dangerous to even contact them after her leaving things the way she did. She'd exhaust every other possible route before they'd consider putting Juliette in with any of the League's associates, even if it took a while. A thought passed through her mind of the possibility of asking Ollie or maybe even Supergirl to help hide Juliette, but a sudden wave of protectiveness eliminated the option for now. She wanted the girl somewhere she or the Legends could watch out for her. She'd promised they would.<br/><br/>"Maybe a couple weeks. She'll be safest with you in the temporal zone until then." Ava said.<br/><br/>Frustrated, Sara changed the subject, "What kind of research was this guy known for doing? What's his background?"<br/><br/>Ava flipped back a few pages and scanned the lines until she found the answer. "Malachai Mason was born in 1946, has biochemistry and quantum physics degrees from Oxford, MIT, and the University of Berlin. Was on the Biochem board at Harvard, doing research until it became more profitable to be independently and privately funded by different parties."<br/><br/>"Where is the list of who was funding him?" Sara interrupted. Ava shuffled around a few papers and handed the right one to Sara.<br/><br/>"Looks like most of his early research was towards using stem cells to regain feeling and use in injured or regenerated limbs, but his later research projects were rather unsuccessful. Or unfruitful, at least." The Agent continued, eyes scanning the information. "No new patents or hiring in his lab for the last seven years of his life. His death was ruled a suicide in... 2032."<br/><br/>"The year we just took him back to." Sara noted. <em>Interesting</em>.<br/><br/>"Hmm." Ava nodded, finally glancing up from the papers in her lap. "Maybe the kid being gone did have some kind of effect on him." <br/><br/>Sara shrugged. She somehow couldn't manage to feel any remorse. Something caught her eye on the page. "You said there wasn't a lot of activity from him for the last seven years of his life, right? So that'd be 2027?"<br/><br/>"Yeah." Ava nodded. "Looks like he was paid out a bunch of money and he probably stopped working and used it as a retirement fund."<br/><br/>"According to these transactions, Mason got eleven separate payments of the same amount. Why split it up if it's all for personal use?" Sara frowned.<br/><br/>It certainly was peculiar, at least. "Who were the payments made by?"<br/><br/>Sara searched through the last couple pages. "H.O.O.T.: the Health Organization for Operant Transcendence."<br/><br/>The Agent quickly made her way behind her desk and typed the name into her Bureau Database. She scanned the screen, "They're all right here." She began, and after she saw the Captain stand to approach, waited until Sara was peering over her shoulder at the computer. "Founded in 2016, actually. So not that old just yet. Seems pretty legit; they'll go on to fund research to combat climate change in a few years."<br/><br/>Sara sighed as she turned to lean against the desk again. "So a dead end?"<br/><br/>"I wouldn't be so sure." Ava reminded herself of the direness of the case and the girl in danger as her mind started to drift off into dangerous thoughts. Dangerous thoughts like how impatient and adorably frustrated the other woman was. Suddenly, Sara was too close. Ava took a step back from the computer. "We just have to keep looking. I'm sure there's something here that can tell us about the girl and the mad scientist." She gestured an empty hand to the now-opened files laying around her office. "We'll figure it out." Against her better judgement and before she could think clearly, Ava softly nudged the Captain with a playful and light elbow. The Agent chastised herself as she suppressed a blush at the way Sara's mood seemed to improve.<br/><br/>"You're right." She shook off her pout and looked up to the other woman. "Ava, thank you so much for helping me with all this. There's no way I could do this alone and the Legends are..."<br/><br/>"A mess." Ava nodded understandingly.<br/><br/>"I was gonna say busy." A characteristic Sara Smirk made an appearance and Ava had to take another small step backwards. "But I guess 'mess' works too. The night off was working well though, everybody just needed a bit of time to relax before getting back to this whole 'saving the entire timeline' thing. We should be back fixing anachronisms soon."<br/><br/>"I am certainly glad to hear that, Captain Lance." Ava snapped back into a professional tone (okay, maybe even a happier professionalism--for Ava). "Because the Time Bureau has a mission for the Legends, and Director Hunter said you're going to like it."<br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/><br/>Sara rolled her eyes. She supposed it was stupid of her to expect the Legends to do what they were told for once and go straight back to the ship. But a <em>bar</em>? With a <em>kid</em>? How did they even manage that? Sara cursed under her breath that if she found Juliette sitting somewhere on the street, abandoned, she'd channel her inner demon and have <em>her</em> slowly murder each one of the culpable parties.<br/><br/>Right before she pushed past the Bouncer to the bar Gideon'd tracked them to, Sara scanned the building. No one was running and screaming from inside and the party seemed to be in full swing, so Sara supposed they at least hadn't started some huge bar fight. Yet. The Captain caught herself sighing with relief, then immediately afterward wondered when <em>she'd</em> become the responsible one.<br/><br/>Sara pulled her leather jacket forward and started toward the door. "Ma'am, I'm gonna need some ID." The Bouncer held out an arm in front of her smugly. He had maybe a full foot on her and looked like he was about to do something gross.<br/><br/>The Captain easily dodged under his arm and kicked the back of his knee decisively, grumbling about how she "didn't have time for this" as he crumbled to the floor.<br/><br/>She pushed through the heavy metal door and immediately began surveying the space. It only took a few seconds. It was a hole-in-the-wall dive bar with an impressive amount of activities for how small of a space it was. Sara immediately spotted Jax in a seat at the bar, flirting with some woman probably a few years older than him. The Captain rolled her eyes--she wasn't sure Jax was even old enough to drink yet. She walked further into the bar, on the way to start finding her teammates. Although she spotted Nate playing pool, which was on the left and closer, Sara made a bee-line to where her gut was pulling her, the roped off area in the back.<br/><br/>"What the hell is going on here?" Sara asked upon her arrival, mostly genuinely curious and more surprised than angry. She watched as Martin threw a dart across to the target on the wall, being cheered on by Ray, Juliette, and a mysterious fourth participant when Martin's dart stuck in the rim of the board.<br/><br/>Juliette saw her first. The girl's face instantly brightened, completely unaware of the fear Sara inspired in the three grown men behind her. "Sara! Hello!" The Captain's frustration and surprise softened at the girl's warm welcome and the woman crossed her arms as she stepped over the rope, ignoring the lame protests from the Bouncers. "Do you want to play? It's called darts!" The girl explained, fascinated.<br/><br/>"I don't think that'd be a fair match for anyone, kid." Ray forced a laugh. Beside him, Martin placed his remaining darts on a small coffee table.<br/><br/>The Captain ran a hand through her hair. The place was dark and loud and they had a lot to do before they could go to sleep tonight. "What are you guys doing here? I told you to go back to the ship."<br/><br/>"Well, Mick was saying how it wasn't really fair that you got to go off with your girlfriend and we had to go stay on the ship... and we kinda agreed with him." Ray shrank back at the woman's annoyed glare.<br/><br/>"First of all, Ava is not my girlfriend. It was a strictly professional meeting" Sara quickly denied, not even quite convincing herself, before sighing and moving on. "And second of all, okay? You don't go back to the ship, why <em>here</em>? A <em>bar</em>? With the kid?" She exacerbated. "And <em>how</em>?"<br/><br/>"I'm not a kid." Juliette stated, already over how old that distinction was getting.<br/><br/>She was ignored. Martin bravely spoke up, "We're not really sure. I think Rory pointed a gun at him."<br/><br/>"Really?" Ray broke the intensity of the discussion with the Captain. "I thought he just threatened him."<br/><br/>"I'm pretty sure I saw him give him money." Juliette shrugged.<br/><br/>"How? We don't have any money." Ray countered. It was an unfortunate drawback of saving the entire universe, no direct employers.<br/><br/>The girl casually answered, "With the money from the restaurant." She knew it seemed shady, but she'd thought that everyone had seen Mick shove several bills at the man in front of the door before they pushed their way into the building.<br/><br/>"The <em>what</em>?" Sara stopped the little chit-chat, "You guys didn't pay for dinner?" She pinched her nose again, not quite able to muster up enough patience to deal with this when they have a very important mission to prepare for back on the ship.<br/><br/>"Well, technically, you didn't either." Ray noted.<br/><br/>"<em>Whatever</em>!" The Captain shouted angrily, then took a beat to run her hands over her eyes. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Just-- Where's Mick? We gotta go."<br/><br/>A crash came from behind her and Sara didn't need to look to know what was happening. If they had been here a couple hours, they could've had a lot to drink by now. Sara rolled her eyes as she turned around, placing mental bets with herself about who was starting the fight. Of course, it was Mick who was standing over a guy that seemed unconscious on the ground.<br/><br/>Sara barked orders behind her. "Ray: get the kid out. Martin: get Nate and Jax. I'll get Mick. Meet outside in 5 and be ready to run if this gets messy." As soon as the word left her mouth, the irony of 'messy' after being called it by Ava not even an hour before hit her. She guessed Ava had been right, though she'd <em>never</em> admit that. Though this whole escape was unnecessary, Sara found herself smiling. She liked the thrill of fights and narrow escapes and the adrenalin they brought.<br/><br/>A few minutes later, Sara grinned with satisfaction as she shoved Mick out the door, completing their rag-tag team as the only two missing members waiting in the alley. "Everyone here?" She didn't even bother double checking. "Good. Lets go. We've got stuff to do."<br/><br/>"We got a new mission, Cap?" Jax asked as they started walking--or stumbling, for some.<br/><br/>Sara decided not to answer, but gave a signature smirk instead and lead her team back to the Waverider.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter Eight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the team had all arrived on the bridge of the Waverider, they waited. The Legends looked around at each other, all looking a little worse-for-wear after the bar. They'd had a good time, but for some reason, none of them had ever been able to pinpoint how things always seemed to get so chaotic whenever they go out. Just wrong time, wrong place they assumed. Couldn't possibly the Legends. They were waiting for Sara to begin their debriefing, when a portal opened and none other than Agent Sharpe walked through. Only Sara noticed the brief look of discomfort that crossed her face as she entered and immediately spoke up, "Hey, Ava."<br/><br/>"Sara." The Agent nodded, warmer than in the past but not quite yet friendly, then nodded to the rest of the room's occupants. "Legends."<br/><br/>Although the rest of the Legends at least attempted a polite welcome, Jefferson groaned. "<em>Another</em> Bureau mission?" He whined.<br/><br/>"Yep." Sara affirmed simply, ignoring him. "And this one's <em>important</em>." She wiggled her eyebrows and the Legends' attitudes perked up.<br/><br/>Ava quickly corrected, "They're all important." And when she watched their excitement taper, she switched tactics and amended, "But this one is particularly... crucial, to the timeline."<br/><br/>It seemed to salvage their interests well enough. "What happened that the Big Bad Bureau would be calling us directly?" Nate inquired. Usually their communication with the Bureau was limited to Ava barking orders through the screen in the galley.<br/><br/>"Good question, Nathaniel." Ava praised, remembering Sara's explanation of how the Legends responded well to that. "As you all know, Director Hunter created the Time Bureau in 2015 to protect the continuity and sanctity of time, that would eventually protect against the threat of Vandal Savage. In its first year, it wasn't the same institution and they didn't have the same extensive security measures we have now that have--." The Agent noticed the Legend's interests diminishing once again and glanced to Lance for help. Sara waved her hand in a circle, urging Ava to move along faster and she quickly adopted the note. "Anyway, in short back when the Time Bureau was a very new organization, an Agent defected and stole the prototype for the only time drive we had at the time on the way out."<br/><br/>Martin interrupted, "Do you know who stole it?"<br/><br/>"Yes," Ava nodded, "His name is Brandon Cooper."<br/><br/>"And let me guess, you want us to go back and make sure he doesn't steal it from Rip?" Mick grumbled. And Sara promised this one would be <em>fun</em>.<br/><br/>Agent Sharpe smirked slightly. The Legends--save for Sara--hadn't seen her smile before and could've sworn the expression somewhat resembled their captain's. "Not quite." She crossed her arms. "We've only recently discovered who he gave it to--a group of Kaznian militia that call themselves 'Reavers'--but we don't know why they needed it or if they made copies. If they somehow managed to make more time drives and we tried to prevent them from stealing the original drive, they would try to stop us and we would just play time leap-frog and end up nowhere. Additionally, its crucial that you not interact with Director Hunter at that period, as he would know something had went wrong with his plan to form your team and might decide not to gather the Legends at all."<br/><br/>"And then we'd never become the Legends in the first place." Ray deduced, horrified. The team only considered the idea for a brief second before shaking it from their minds. They didn't want to even imagine a timeline where their merry band of misfits and idiots wasn't formed. This team was their family.<br/><br/>Martin pushed the team past their 'what-ifs' about if Rip hadn't found them all with a new line of questioning, "Okay, so what do you propose we do?"<br/><br/>"We need intelligence. In 2016, over a year after the time drive was stolen, the Kaznian militia--the 'Reavers'--were in full-swing of training their members. They recruited from already well-accredited teams of terrorists and spies to join their ranks then trained them at their top-secret facility outside of Chefatuán, Kaznia. As it so happens, in two adjacently recruited teams, one arriving March 7 and the next March 16, we fit the profiles." She explained then waited for the team to put together the pieces.<br/><br/>"You want to send us undercover?" Ray asked, surprised. "As a team of terrorists that are pretending to be soccer moms and suburban dads but are really training to be spies?"<br/><br/>"That is correct, Mr. Palmer."<br/><br/>"And not just us," Sara added, "Ava's coming too."<br/><br/>Ava wasn't oblivious to the questioning glances being thrown around the circle and felt obligated to make some sort of explanation, "We, uh, need all hands on deck with this one to fit the profile. They will only let us in the facility if they think we're these teams they've already vetted and validated."<br/><br/>"And what's the point of getting into this facility? You said it was for training, right? Why's it important to finding this stolen time drive?" Nate asked.<br/><br/>"The primary goal is to recover the stolen drive." Sara answered. "According to the Bureau's sources, there are two phases of training. Completion of the skills training of the first phase will get us access into the building where the second--more specific--phase happens, which is also where they believe the time drive to be."<br/><br/>Ava added, "We also have a secondary objective: to figure out why these 'Reavers' wanted the drive, what they've already used it for, and if they've made any more."<br/><br/>"And if they have?" Jax questioned.<br/><br/>"We destroy them." Ava answered simply. "Unauthorized time drives and their usage are violations of Title 16 of the UN's Global Treaty on Time Travel and is punishable by--"<br/><br/>"It's a big no-no." Sara surmised, letting it hang in the air for a moment.<br/><br/>"Wait." Nate turned to Agent Sharpe. "You said this information came to the Bureau from a source in the group. Will we have a man on the inside? Is it the same guy that defected from the Bureau, because he would recognize you, right?"<br/><br/>"The man who defected from the Bureau left before my time there, and has since been shut out of all Bureau systems. He wouldn't be able to access any information on current employees, including me." Ava answered in stride. "And the source from the Reavers gave up the information under... duress when the Bureau captured him while fulfilling another objective in conjunction with the time aberrations. He is being held at the Time Bureau Headquarters and thus, unable to assist us."<br/><br/>Despite the knowledge of risk, Martin was already thoroughly interested in the mission. "So we're sending two teams?"<br/><br/>The Captain nodded. "It looks like these teams were made to seem like small family units, intended to help their agents blend in with their targets out in the field."<br/><br/>"Therefore," Ava finished, "Part of completing the first phase of training at this facility will be proving that we can successfully play the part of a family in--according to our source--an American suburban setting."<br/><br/>Mick shrugged. "Sounds like a piece of cake. We can do cookie-cutter for a week to get this over with."<br/><br/>Before Ava could snap about how seriously this should be taken, Sara stepped forward, cutting off the eye contact between the two. "That's the spirit, Rory! Everybody else in?" When no one immediately objected and seemed in general agreement and/or indifference, she clapped her hands together and pushed some buttons on Gideon's console that they were gathered around.<br/><br/>"Who's with who?" Nate excitedly inquired.<br/><br/>"I better not be with him, Blondie." Mick groaned, downing a bottle of water for once, trying to rid himself of an oncoming headache.<br/><br/>The Captain skillfully ignored the complaints of her crew, which she did often and well, and took the file Ava was offering her, then scanned it and nodded for the Agent to go first. "With me is Nate, Jax, and... Mick." She listed, already hearing the man's objection.<br/><br/>"Listen, pantsuit, did I not <em>just</em> say that I--" Mick started.<br/><br/>Sara began reading her list, mostly to shut Mick up. "And, obviously, Ray, Martin, and Juliette are with me."<br/><br/>"<em>Juliette</em>?" The girl repeated, surprised she'd even been mentioned at all. And when she realized she'd been assigned a role in a real mission, she repeated. "As in, <em>me</em>, 'Juliette'?"<br/><br/>"The one and only." Sara flashed a smile so confident that the girl almost believed it herself and conceded.<br/><br/>"Woah, woah, woah." Nate objected, "Doesn't it seem kinda... <em>careless</em>, to bring the kid on a mission in a Kaznian militia facility that we don't know anything about?"<br/><br/>This was something that Sara had already heavily considered and discussed with Ava during preparations for the team's debriefing. The Captain moved towards the girl, giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze as she gave the well thought-out reasoning. "Well, the team we'll be replacing--the Bristows--consist of one older gentleman, Martin, one happily married couple, me and Nate, and one teen aged daughter: Juliette. And with this crazy doctor man still looking for you, you're not leaving our sight." Sara winked to the girl as she playfully nudged her with an elbow, then turned back to the rest of the team. "Besides, who else than the Legends would she be safer with?" She pitched, waiting to gauge the response.<br/><br/>"She's not gonna be running to me when she pisses the bed, I don't care." Mick grunted and shrugged.<br/><br/>Juliette's weak reply was, "I don't piss the bed."<br/><br/>"Language," Sara chastised the girl, before turning on her heels to hold Rory culpable too, "Both of you!"<br/><br/>"You'll do fine." Martin assured. Sara opened her mouth to comment further but saw the intense and silent confirmation between Martin and Juliette's eye contact and decided it was handled.<br/><br/>"Right." Ava rubbed her hands together as she waited for the Legends to shift their focus back. "So we had Gideon prepare files about our covers and the skills you'll be responsible for knowing. Let me know if you have any concerns, but I suggest an hour break to review your covers individually before we reconvene."<br/><br/>Sara nodded in agreement as the Captain handed out each person's file folder. "See you guys in an hour." She waved her own file in dismissal and waited until the Legends left her on the bridge alone with Ava to take a deep breath again.<br/><br/>"I thought that went well." Ava commented, genuine. Sara laughed and smacked her lightly with her folder.<br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/><br/>Professor Martin Stein tapped his foot. He'd been studying his cover for the mission, but couldn't help getting distracted. The file read that he was the Bristow family patriarch, father to Sara's character, father-in-law to Ray's, and grandfather to Juliette. Although he was intrigued to see how Sara and Ray would be acting as a married couple, Martin was mostly interested in the kid's role in the mission. He didn't know the girl very well at all, but through the little real time he'd spent with her at the bar, he knew she was naive and eager, and shared the same damaged look as Sara.<br/><br/>But that might not be the only thing the girl shared with anyone Martin knew. Nate's comment about the coincidence of the girl's name echoed through his head. He thought about how he was sure his granddaughter would be (had been?) named Tess, but how Lily wouldn't let him paint the name on the nursery wall because she hadn't decided for sure yet.<br/><br/>There was also the fact that they'd picked the kid up in Little Mountain, Colorado. His wife had been born there and had grown up there, but Martin was pretty sure she hadn't been back since her late teens and she left for college. Lily had never even visited there.<br/><br/>And then there was Juliette's age. He didn't know when her birthday was, but if it was in late May, the kid could be almost exactly the same age as his granddaughter. <em>There was no way,</em> he reminded himself.<br/><br/>He kept repeating the phrase as he tried to force himself to focus on the papers in front of him, until he just couldn't stand it anymore. Frustratedly, the Professor stood suddenly from his desk. He had to know--either way. Not knowing was slowly driving him mad. The possibility of this child being his granddaughter hung heavily within him. If she was, there were so many questions. What had happened to Lily and Clarissa? He was sure the girl wouldn't have been left on her own if her family could've helped it. And how had the girl fallen into the dangerous doctor's hands afterwards?<br/><br/>Questions buzzed around his mind as he practically sprinted to the med bay. When he arrived, Martin immediately started typing on the computer. He searched Gideon's files to see if she had saved the girl's DNA during her initial intake. With a few taps on the screen, the Professor opened Juliette's docket and released a heavy breath when he discovered the girl's DNA sequence floating on the screen. Martin dragged the file to the neighboring screen and began clicking away at a comparison with his own DNA sequence.<br/><br/>"The action you have requested is not immediately available, Professor." Gideon advised. "It will take several hours to run a full diagnostic."<br/><br/>The Professor figured as much. "That's alright, Gideon. Please notify me as soon as possible when the test is complete. Even if by comms."<br/><br/>"When what test is complete?" A voice asked from behind.<br/><br/>Martin turned on his heels nervously, only to be relieved that it was just Ray, who was standing in the doorway with a file at his side. "Oh, it's just you." The Professor exhaled, though he wasn't sure who he expected or would've been avoiding.<br/><br/>Ray didn't budge. "What test are you running?" He repeated, stepping easily into the room. He'd been walking by when he had heard the Professor ask his question to an empty room.<br/><br/>"Its probably ridiculous." Stein laughed uncomfortably, hoping that it'd deter further questioning. When Ray didn't dismiss him, Martin conceded. "Its... about my grandchild."<br/><br/>Ray leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, settling in to listen to the story. "How so?"<br/><br/>"I'm sure it's nothing. Statistically speaking, it's almost impossible. A huge coincidence, really." The Professor stalled.<br/><br/>"But we don't believe in coincidences." Ray commented. As a man of science, he found that coincidences hardly appeared in real life. The universe had a way of connecting everyone and everything was set into motion by some other event. Everything happened for a reason.<br/><br/>Martin pondered the thought for a moment before spitting it out, "It's Juliette. Nathaniel and I were speaking earlier and... it, became an option that Juliette could be my granddaughter."<br/><br/>Ray was silent for a beat, considering and letting the outrageous claim hang in the air. "What makes you think that Juliette could be your granddaughter?"<br/><br/>"Just several mere coincidences, that's all. The girl is about the same age as my grandchild would be in 2032. We rescued her from my wife's hometown, and she might share a name with my grandchild." The Professor rambled.<br/><br/>"So you're running... a DNA test? To see if the girl and you share enough genetic markers to deem you related?" Ray concluded.<br/><br/>"Yes." Martin nodded definitively, seeming more sure of his decision that he felt.<br/><br/>Ray crossed his arms. "That's quite a stretch, Martin."<br/><br/>"I know," Stein admitted, "But if there was even a chance..." He paused, not feeling like he needed to continue. So he ended with a, "I have to know."<br/><br/>The other man nodded. He understood. "You should tell her." Ray suggested lightly. "Either way, I'm sure the kid wouldn't mind some extra hope of a family. Especially with the mission and all."<br/><br/>Martin nodded. Ray was right. This mission wasn't like their normal gigs. It required them to stick around a while and prove they can work together. There were lots of opportunity for mistakes. They'd have to look out for each other, especially the girl. What would be the harm in giving the girl an option to really relate to the team? It might serve well if the girl could at least fathom the idea of a family. Make her less likely to slip up.<br/><br/>"Alpha team, get to the fabrication room in 15. It's go time." Sara's voice announced over the ship speaker.<br/><br/>Martin turned to start towards the door when he paused, "If you wouldn't mind. I'd like to mention it to her on my own pace."<br/><br/>"Of course." Ray agreed, "Anything for you, Pops." He playfully nudged the older man with an elbow and followed him out of the room.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter Nine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Well, I guess this is goodbye for a while, huh?" Sara pulled a black jacket over a black tank top. Her and Ava had been reviewing their files in her room for the last hour, but Sara really needed to get to the fabrication room and make sure everyone got into dark clothing for their mission.<br/><br/>Ava put on a brave face and reminded her, "It'll only be a bit for me." They had decided that Alpha team would be dropped off and then Beta team would wait a few hours, to further review their files and plan--as well as to get Mick to sober up--, before jumping ahead the two weeks to their drop off. Which left Alpha team alone and off the grid with the Reavers for those two weeks. If made, Ava had given Sara extraction coordinates where they could be rescued when Beta team arrived at that date, but it would be two weeks of waiting in the woods if they weren't allowed into the camp at all. They didn't want to run the risk of the Waverider following them to the militia camp and getting caught, which would give the Reavers <em>another</em> time drive, so after Alpha team departed the ship, they had a short window for assistance if they couldn't intercept the real team of assassins they were posing as, and then they were on their own.<br/><br/>"We'll be okay, right?" Sara suddenly found herself in a moment of unfamiliar doubt. "The team has never had to play <em>nice</em> for so long."<br/><br/>Ava laughed once, at "nice" being the term Sara chose to replace "non-violent" in the Legends' handbook. But then sobered once she noticed the hint of nerves on Sara's face. "Sara," She stood to be close to her once again, "Of course we can do this. The Bureau wouldn't have asked... <em>I</em> wouldn't have asked if I wasn't completely sure that the Legends were capable. That <em>you</em> are capable."<br/><br/>The Captain nodded. "You're right. Of course. It'll just be... different. But different is fun." She assured herself. <em>Fake it till you make it</em>, she thought.<br/><br/>"Do you have everything that you need? Know the plan?" Ava tucked a stray hair behind Sara's ear, pulling the Captain's focus back onto her and not on the mission for five seconds.<br/><br/>Sara laughed. "Yes." She swatted Ava's hand away, but didn't move out of her reach. Sara felt the tension pass between them for only a beat, unable to notice how close Ava's face was to her's and how soft Ava's lips were. It was only then, in that single thought, that Sara realized the familiar pull of attraction towards the woman. An attraction that usually lead to pain, and that wasn't something she could process right then. So she stepped back, and adjusted her jeans so that she could have something to do with her hands. "Like you said, we're the Legends." Sara pulled a cheeky smile to her lips to help easy the tension, and felt only relief when Ava finally smiled back.<br/><br/>"Right." The Agent tugged at her sleeves. "Well, good luck out there."<br/><br/>"Thanks." Sara accepted. She then turned on her heels to exit the room, when she paused. What if they got made by the militia people? And she never got to really make her peace with... Whatever <em>this</em> was, going on between her and the Agent. Sara abruptly turned on her heels and closed the distance between her and Ava. She couldn't kiss her, that didn't feel right in this moment, when she had a clue but no real evidence to how Ava felt. She really just wanted contact with the other woman, comfort in a moment of hesitation. She crashed into the woman with more force than she intended, wrapping her arms around her stomach partially for comfort, partially to catch her so that the impact didn't unsettle her balance. Ava was certainly taller than her, but Sara found that her face nuzzled comfortably in the joint of Ava's shoulder and neck, and that Ava's arms around her shoulders felt warm. For a second, the contact was weird and surprising, as neither of them had quite expected it, but were soon settled in the security and warmth of the connection. Sara let her eyes drift close for only a moment before she succumbed to the nagging of her responsibilities. This was nice, <em>so</em> nice, but she had a team to look out for and a job to do. But she'd said so many goodbyes in her life that she'd allowed herself just a moment of comfort with Ava. She wasn't guaranteed it at all, and definitely not after this mission.<br/><br/>Surprisingly, it was Ava who ended the hug first. "Thank you." Of course, Ava hadn't wanted them to part--Sara could see it in her eyes, even if the other woman hadn't yet recognized her feelings--but she realized there was a bigger purpose. Lives to save. A team to lead. It earned a lot of respect in the Captain's eyes, that Ava would recognize that.<br/><br/>"I'll see you soon." Sara reminded them both, with revamped purpose and heavy promise of future developments between them to come.<br/><br/>"See you soon." Ava agreed. And then Sara left.<br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/>Sara was confused at how she couldn't force down the feelings of sadness she had as she left Ava in her room. She wasn't even sure she liked the woman on a general level, so there was no reason why she would be having such strong feelings about parting with her. She wasn't stupid, she knew <em>something</em> was happening between them, but really hadn't decided how serious that <em>something</em> was going to be yet. But she really didn't have time for this. She needed to stay focused, her only task for this moment was to get herself, Ray, Martin, and Juliette out into the feel to catch that rendezvous with the people they were impersonating... Alias: the Bristows.<br/><br/>Speaking of the people she needs to get off the ship soon, she figured she should go check on Juliette and walk with her to the fabrication room, in case she didn't know where that is. The Captain hooked a quick left and headed off to Juliette's room. The ship wasn't <em>that</em> big and she was standing at her door, knocking, within two minutes. "Juliette, can I come in?" Sara was sure to be extra gentle to the girl, giving her the space and time she wish she'd had after moments of trauma that was particularly difficult to adjust with. When she didn't hear a response, she tried again, "Juliette?" Again, no answer. "Kid, I'm coming in." She announced and waited a beat to touch the button on the keypad.<br/><br/>When the door opened, it was dark inside. Like, completely dark, except for the light pouring in behind Sara from the hallway. Juliette had turned off all the lights in her room. From experience, Sara knew just how dark it could get inside these rooms. It was designed to simulate night in the temporal zone, but left one not able to see their own hand in front of them. Sara had installed a dimmer in the captain's quarters--she <em>refused</em> to call it a night light--so that, even with the lights turned all the way off, she could still see a little bit. Just the amount that the moon would normal provide on a dim light. Just enough so that when Sara woke up from her nightmares, she wouldn't be disoriented in a sea of darkness.<br/><br/>But this room didn't have the dimmer. Sara knew that without that dimmer, Juliette would've been sitting in a quiet room of... Nothingness.<br/><br/>"Juliette?" Sara called out, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dim light, "Where ya at, Bean?" She scanned the room, surprised by herself at the nickname.<br/><br/>"I'm here." A small voice came from deep within the room.<br/><br/>Sara squinted and walked forward, eyes starting to adjust, and finding the girl huddled in a corner on her bunk. It was a small room, and the corner she was in--Sara noticed--was the furthest she could get from the door. The Captain also noticed that the girl was in the same spot she'd left her when they were both in here earlier today, or was that yesterday? She frowned as she realized that she really didn't know.<br/><br/>"Do you mind if I turn on the lights?" The woman asked gently, expecting and prepared for either response, as she sat on the edge of the bed. She was careful to maintain her distance still, but be close enough that the girl might feel comforted by her presence. Sara had noticed earlier that the girl tended to gravitate towards her, would choose a chair or vacant space nearest to her if presented with the option, which gave her the inkling that maybe Juliette had somehow associated Sara with safety. Maybe since Sara was the one to first find her and establish a bond with her. The girl, eyes wide and trusting, shook her head.<br/><br/>"Gideon, the lights." Sara called over her shoulder. Both her and Juliette closed their eyes immediately after the lights blared, rubbing their eyes in attempt to ease the shock. When Sara had removed the water from her eyes and was sure her pupils had dilated, she glanced up at Juliette. The girl hadn't actually looked as bad as she had feared, but the lost expression on her face told Sara where her head was at the moment. She knew she needed to pry--as much as she hated it--to see if the girl was up to the mission or if they'd have to sort out alternate plans. Sara considered starting with why the lights were off, but realized she knew the answer already. For the same reason Sara avoided the light after being brought back from the dead and during her missions with the League, she knew the girl was just retreating into what she knew. Because that, at least, was comfortable and predictable.<br/><br/>So Sara settled on a simple, "How are you?" to see if that would get the ball rolling enough. The girl had been more communicative than expected in previous encounters, so Sara hoped this wasn't some sort of sign of regression.<br/><br/>"I'm..." The girl searched for the right word, which was difficult to sum up everything she was thinking right then into one word. She rubbed her right wrist with her left hand as she decided, and it was Sara's encouraging gaze that lead her to reach a conclusion. "I'm nervous."<br/><br/>"For the mission?" Sara asked. Of course, it was completely understandable. Admittedly, it wasn't her finest idea, but they really didn't have any other choice. The Legends needed Ava <em>and</em> Juliette to complete the mission with the Kaznian Militia. But she wasn't naive enough to think it wouldn't come with a cost. They hardly knew anything about the girl, had no idea how she would hold up in a mission. They'd obviously all assumed the worse and had been expecting to completely cover for her, and were prepared to do so. Bringing a normal teen into this situation would be ill-advised, but Juliette? There's just no telling how the damage she'd sustained from the Doctor will affect her. But Sara reminded herself of the same reason any of them became Legends. They all came to the Waverider damaged. They were all unpredictable due to the experiences life had dealt them. And that--<em>somehow</em>--made them a great team. A team that made each other better... <em>Healed</em> each other.<br/><br/>Juliette cleared her throat. "No, it's not that." She almost wished it was the mission that was making her nervous. And sure, she was a little anxious for how it would go and how she would do. But really, she was mostly <em>excited</em> for it. More excited than she had been about anything in as long as she could remember. These people that she almost idolized already, they wanted--<em>needed</em>--her help on a mission. She could help someone. Save some lives. Somehow, she felt like she was meant to be doing this all her life. But that was the problem, wasn't it.<br/><br/>"I don't belong here." Juliette admitted, unable to stop her voice from cracking. She resumed rubbing her wrists, a trait she'd always been scolded on from back when there was always bruises to soothe there.<br/><br/>Sara was caught completely off guard. Each of the Legends struggle with their new identities after boarding the ship, but certainly hadn't expected this to be the girl's problem in this moment, before her first mission with the team. "Juliette--" The Captain began, although she had no real path to finish her objection. Who was she to say if someone did or <em>didn't</em> belong on the Waverider. And, honestly, that felt like a crisis for later down the road than now.<br/><br/>"You have to take me back." Juliette tried to state evenly, though Sara caught the waves of desperation pouring from her body language instead as the girl leaned eagerly forward.<br/><br/>Sara held a breath, determined to reserve judgement on the request until fully vetted. Was there some family they had taken the girl from back in 2032? She hadn't read anything like that from the Time Bureau's files, but realized with horror that they knew very, <em>very</em> little about the girl sitting on the opposite side of the bed from her. "Back where?" She asked slowly, quietly, as if afraid to hear the girl's answer.<br/><br/>Her fears were confirmed as the dreaded words fell from the girl's mouth, "Back to the Lab, in 2032." Juliette sighed.<br/><br/>It all made sense now. She'd always felt a heavy duty to others, and the Doctor had known this. After he'd discovered the trait within her, he'd been sure to exploit it at every turn for his and his associates' favor. He'd thoroughly trained her to deny that instinct unless it was for his benefit, or else she'd be severely punished. Of course this would be a part of her test. These "Reavers" and the time drive--none of it was real; all of it a fictionalized red herring to distract her from her mission. Proving her loyalty. The mission she'd been asked to be apart of had nothing to do with the interests of the Doctor's company, so there's no other reason for her to participate other than her own selfishness. Therefore, she was expected to turn it down and return back to the Lab. Whether or not she'd actually be returned to complete her test were out of her control. Sometimes, the Doctor's tests were multi-parted, with different checkpoints of crucial decisions that amounted to an overarching lesson. So, she should demand to be taken back to the Doctor, and pass this checkpoint, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's all that the Doctor has planned for her. But she hoped and prayed that this is it, that if Sara knew what was good for her, she'd just take her back. Because Juliette wasn't sure how long she'd hold out when the test, choosing to leave the Legends, was so difficult.<br/><br/>Sara opened her mouth, before shutting it, at a loss for words to describe how completely ridiculous that demand was.<br/><br/>After a tense moment, Sara eventually tried again, this time sticking to answering the request. "Absolutely not."<br/><br/>"But, Captain Lance, you have no idea--" Juliette sat up straight, ready for a fight if she had to. Arguing with Sara was the last thing she ever wanted to do, but Sara's life was at stake. All of the Legend's lives were at stake.<br/><br/>"You are not going back there." The woman slid off the edge of the bed to stand defensively. Even as heated as she was, she was sure to give the girl some distance as she was standing, not wanting the girl to feel like she was towering over her to bully her into submission. "I mean, do I need to remind you how we found you? Juliette, he <em>hurt</em> you and--"<br/><br/>"That's precisely why I need to go back!" The girl found herself yelling. She wasn't sure she had ever done it before, and found that the sensation hurt her throat. But in a way, she was proud of herself, finally standing up for herself.<br/><br/>In a similar way, Sara was also impressed with the girl, and would've commented on it if she wasn't so damn frustrated with her right now. It just didn't make any sense. And when things didn't make any sense, it's because there's something she didn't know. "Juliette, I don't understand." Sara schooled her voice into a calmer tone. She pleaded with the girl, "We found you in a locked cell. In the dark." She knew it was a terrible thing that she was doing, reminding the girl of her horrors, but she needed her to remember how dangerous that place was for her. She grabbed her arm, gently, but with urgency, "With <em>needle</em> marks in your arms."<br/><br/>"Please stop." The girl whimpered, pulling back her arm.<br/><br/>But Sara couldn't. The need to get to the bottom of the girl's request to be returned outweighed her paitence for delicate matters. "You said yourself that you never left that room. He used to punish you. <em>Hurt</em> you."<br/><br/>"I <em>know</em> what he did but--" Juliette objected lightly.<br/><br/>"And now you're asking me to take you back there? You have no idea what you'll be going back to. At best, being 'punished', as you say and at worse... Juliette, he could kill you for escaping! I cannot let that happen! We can protect you here, on the Waverider, with the Legends!" Sara was pleading for the girl to understand. She looked down at her on the bed, not realizing until then that the girl had begun crying. She had curled into a small ball in the back corner, almost identical to the way Sara had found her in the cell.<br/><br/>"You can't protect me." The girl sobbed. It didn't make any sense to her anymore. If the Legends were a part of the Doctor's test, why were they trying so hard to be everything that the Doctor stood against? He'd never hire such willful people to do his bidding, for any job, especially not handle his most prized possessions. And why would people hoping to get a huge payout from the Doctor's associates upon completion of the test campaign against him so adamantly? Throwing his treatment of her in her face? Encouraging connection with the crew? It didn't make any sense!<br/><br/>"We can! I know you haven't been pulled up to date about this team's <em>accomplishments</em>, but there's no need to be worried. The people on this ship, I'd trust with my whole life. They're good people. They'll have your back." Sara reasoned, hoping it would calm the girl down.<br/><br/>But instead, it caused Juliette to cry harder. Big teardrops gushed from the girl's green eyes and she had to keep wiping at her nose for snot. It wasn't a pretty sight, but to Sara, it was so <em>human </em>that the Captain couldn't bring herself to mind. She sighed as she slipped back next to the kid and wrapped an arm around the blanket bundle. She remembered that she should've asked permission before she initiated contact, but the girl loosened in her arms and was soon fully leaning on the older woman. Several beats passed as the girl struggled to calm herself. Very soon--so much so that Sara was actually impressed--the girl was reduced to sniffles and wiping eyes.<br/><br/>She took a deep breath before turning to Sara. "You don't understand the situation in which you're involved." Juliette watched confusion pass over the woman's face and decided to jump to the highlights of what she could say about all this. "The Doctor... He's <em>dangerous</em>."<br/><br/>"Juliette, we know that--" Sara started to interrupt.<br/><br/>"No." The girl pushed through. "You <em>don't</em> know how dangerous. I'm not even sure I know of half of the terrible things he's done. But I do know that if he finds us, he'll get me back. No matter how hard you fight. But at least I'll live. You and your team will not." Juliette warned.<br/><br/>"Listen, kid. We've handled all kinds of dangerous before. Us Legends can take care of ourselves, and watch your back." Sara assured her, and stopped the girl before she could object. "If you aren't so sure, why don't you let us prove it to you?"<br/><br/>Juliette was confused, "What do you mean?"<br/><br/>Sara answered simply, "Let us prove that we can take care of ourselves, and you."<br/><br/>"How so?" The girl prompted, unsure.<br/><br/>"Go on the mission with us." The Captain proposed, "Work with me and the team. We need you. And we can prove to you that you're safe with us, that you don't need to worry about the Doctor coming after us."<br/><br/>The girl considered the idea. She was pretty sure that even the Doctor's reach wouldn't be able to control the third parties--the Kaznian Reavers--in this mission. He was taking a huge gamble by letting his employees take the girl on a mission there. She'd be alone with the Legends, off the grid and out of the scope of the test momentarily. She'd be able to really figure out what the deal with the Legends is. Could they possibly... be telling the truth? That she is safe with them, out of the Doctor's grasp? Could this really be her life now? Sara and Ray and the Legends and the Waverider and time travel? She almost preferred this to be a test, the tests were known and calculable. What would she do if she were really, truly free?<br/><br/>Juliette looked purposefully at Sara, having decided that the veracity of Sara's proposal Sara was empirical. If she didn't complete the objective with the Legends, it was because it was all a test and she'd be returned to the Doctor. If she, somehow, completed to mission... Well, Sara was telling the truth then. She wanted to believe the woman, but was deeply afraid of the implications. However, she found herself nodding. "I'll go on the mission."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter Ten</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time Sara and Juliette got to the fabrication room, Ray and Martin were already there, waiting. "Have you guys had enough time to review your files?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'd like too--" Martin began to object.<br/>
<br/>
"Okay, Martin." Sara stopped him there. "We'll hear it out in a second, okay? Lets just review our covers first." The woman turned to the fabricator and punched a few buttons on the screen before addressing her team further. "Now, I know this is unfamiliar territory, alright? But we're the <em>Legends</em>. We can do this." Sara looked to Ray first, straight in the eyes, and received a nod of confirmation from him, saying '<em>I'm ready'</em>. Next, she turned to an unsteady Martin, who gave her a tight smile of agreement. Finally, the Captain faced the girl, Juliette, who's wide eyes flickered to the door like she might bolt at any moment. "We <em>can</em> do this." She repeated, staring directly at the girl until Juliette seemed to relax and meet her eye again.<br/>
<br/>
"Now," Sara got back to business, "We're lucky. The file on the team we're replacing detailed the specialties and positions the team could fill as a whole, but didn't specify on who filled what role, which left us some wiggle room. It isn't exact though. Obviously, the kid is mostly the sleeper agent, but is trained in surveillance if needed. Juliette, your main goal is to help us blend in as an American family. Be observant."<br/>
<br/>
Juliette felt a beat of wavering doubt. But the way Sara looked at her, so similar to the way she looked at her when she found her so recently in that cell, the girl knew she was trusted. Sara was testing her resolve in this moment, waiting to see if the girl would crumble or be all in. "I can do that."<br/>
<br/>
From Sara's smirk, she'd passed. "Good. What's your cover?"<br/>
<br/>
Another test. But Juliette knew this one. "Code name: Ayla. Cover name: Clarke Bristow. I'm 15 years old. As far as my cover says, I play soccer and like art."<br/>
<br/>
"Right," The Captain agreed, her file was the thinnest, as the member under the least scrutiny. She was needed to be successful in their charade as an American family, but her necessity out in the field was intended to be limited. "You won't be attending the training academy with us everyday. My understanding is that the training facility we're going to is modeled off of a typical American town. Which means you'll be attending the high school there." The girl nodded, silently processing the information. But Sara moved on for the sake of time, "Ray?"<br/>
<br/>
Ray took a seat on the bench with a sigh and bent the folder in his hands as he spoke, "Code name: Cavalier, an American intelligence defector. I'm Aaron Bristow, 41. Technical Operations Officer with experience in advanced hacking and code breaking."<br/>
<br/>
"Do you have enough knowledge to pull that background off?" Sara asked seriously.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I'm not Felicity," Ray's smiled turned sad, but Sara found her heart warmed by the memory of such a dear friend. It's such a shame they didn't visit when they were in Starling City; they'll have to stop by next time. "But I'll make do."<br/>
<br/>
Sara collected the items from the fabricator and began distributing them to the respective members. They each received dark clothing and dark boots of their size for the first leg of the mission; the interception of the team they were to replace. "Martin?" She prompted him to verbally review his file, less for himself--as she was sure he was prepared--but mostly for the benefit of his coworkers in the room.<br/>
<br/>
"Right, um," The older man adjusted his glasses, "My code name is Volunteer, but name for the real mission is Jonathan Bristow, or John. I'm Aaron's father and, therefore, the grandfather of Clarke." He couldn't quite bring himself to look at the girl as he recited the information. So instead, he looked to Sara. "And father-in-law to you, Emily. My role is the Intelligence Analyst, who will interpret the intelligence we gather and also as the Spymaster, be the leader of the team. Which is what I wanted to discuss with you, Sara. If it's your gender that you're worried about, I'm sure you will have no problem at all showing them where--"<br/>
<br/>
"It's not that." Sara laughed. "It's just how things are in the intelligence community. And, as double-undercover agents, it's our job to play their game and blend in. I don't want to attract a bunch of unnecessary attention to us, it'd be dangerous. Which means the old white guy gets to be in charge, okay?" Sara waited until Martin nodded, agreeing, to address the rest of the team. "That means, out there, Martin calls the shots, not me. And Martin gets to act like a big, egotistical leader-man." She playfully nudged him with an elbow.<br/>
<br/>
"And me, code name: Redfern. Cover name: Emily Bristow, 34. I'm the Special Operations Officer as the team's weapons expert and with a history in martial arts." Sara pulled the hair tie from her hair and went to work at pulling all the hairs that had fallen into her face back into a ponytail. "Now listen guys, this really isn't so different than what we normally do. It's just longer. But we've already got the family part down."<br/>
<br/>
"I mean, we do all share one bathroom." Ray admitted.<br/>
<br/>
"Exactly!" She finished her ponytail, and surveyed her small team before her. They looked apprehensive, and she couldn't blame them. "So shouldn't be too difficult. We just go in, act natural. Complete their training enough so that they let us in the building for phase two. Try not to get made before Beta team joins us, so that we have better chances at escaping with the stolen time drive. Easy, right?'<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p> <br/>
It had turned out to take them way longer than they had thought to intercept and replace the real Bristow team. The hijacking and disposal of the real Bristows wasn't what was difficult, a couple of strategically placed arrows and a gaseous concoction of chemicals that Ray and Gideon had put together did the trick to render them disabled. What they hadn't realized, however, was that once they'd punctured the tires to stall the van they were in, they wouldn't be able to drive that van away anymore. Lucky that they'd told the Waverider to hang back for a couple hours in case of trouble, so they'd called the rest of the team to come with a new set of tires. It had been quick, but left Sara annoyed and more on edge than she'd like. With a final warning from Ava against any more screw ups, they'd left and Ray was driving to the rendezvous point circled in the real Bristows' map on the dash.<br/>
<br/>
They rode in tense silence. Since they'd already reviewed their case files on the ship, they had nothing else to do than wait in quiet anticipation, hoping that they passed off as the Bristows enough to be brought to the compound. Although they didn't require any more rehearsal, Juliette still felt under-prepared. Even the driver noticed, as Ray glanced diagonally behind him to see the nervous bouncing of her leg, though deciding not to mention it directly to her. Sara vaguely noticed the girl's nerves, glancing over her shoulder, but deemed the girl steady enough that Sara could focus on the mission of navigating them. Martin, however, was completely alone with her in the back of the van and had nothing else to do but watch her anxiously rub her wrists. He knew he should probably say something to calm her, but he couldn't force any words from his mouth that wouldn't upset her more. The Professor knew the girl should know of her possible relation to him, like Ray had said, but this didn't quite feel like the time for familial bonding.<br/>
<br/>
Instead, Ray decided to speak up. "You know, Juliette, my first mission with the Legends?... I was terrified."<br/>
<br/>
The admission lifted everyone's heads, even Sara's which was buried deep in a map. But the girl, especially, was surprised. "Really?" Juliette could completely understand why she would be feeling frightened and nervous, but someone as brave as Ray? She was shocked.<br/>
<br/>
Ray didn't need to turn around to know the girl had a sparkle of interest in her eye. He cleared his throat, preparing his voice for the raw honesty of an answer. "We went to 1975 to talk to an expert on the bad guy we were tracking back then. But I messed up. We had to make a quick escape and I left part of my suit there, where it was eventually used to hurt a lot of people. Lives were lost because of my mistake. And I felt so guilty and unworthy of the team, half expected them to leave me behind." He remembered with a heavy heart his careless action that led to a huge mess the Legends had to clean up. "But they didn't. They stood beside me, and helped me right my wrong. They didn't leave me behind, because we're a family and that's what families do. We just, picked ourselves up and kept moving. Kept fighting."ng to say, <br/>
<br/>
"I think what Ray is saying that we have your back." Martin added. "Through anything."<br/>
<br/>
Juliette frowned, trying to sift through her feelings. She could tell that there people... "the Legends", they seem so... Unbreakable. And strong. Juliette couldn't reconcile how she could ever <em>begin</em> to compare to them. Even back with the safety of the Waverider, she felt so... Unsettled, all the time. The girl thought of how every day was the same back in the Lab. The tests and exercises were different, but the routine was the same. But since she left, everything felt so <em>real</em>. She'd never felt so alive. There was something about taking a deep breath in and feeling the sharpness of cold, fresh air fill her lungs. It was like she was really here, somehow, finally actually out of the grips of the Doctor. And it was terrifying. But she was still so suspicious, it didn't seem like it could be true, even after her conversation with Sara earlier.<br/>
<br/>
"How can you be so..." She swallowed deeply, "Brave?"<br/>
<br/>
The question threw the two men for a loop, and even Sara who was pretending to be more focused on navigating than eavesdropping didn't give an answer. Sara lived through most of their missions because of talented stupidity and dumb luck, but not all of them had made it out of the other side of their crucibles. She didn't know how to comfort the girl with those odds.<br/>
<br/>
"Did you ever go outside when you were in Little Mountain?" Martin asked suddenly.<br/>
<br/>
The girl, confused by the quick change of topic, nodded. "I wasn't allowed out often." The timidness drained from her voice and was replaced by an enchanted dreaminess, "But I do have this vivid memory of a particular bridge. It was narrow and wooden, but teemed to stretch the entire gap between these two huge mountains."<br/>
<br/>
"And it had white water underneath it that somehow opened into still blue water?" The Professor probed.<br/>
<br/>
"Exactly!" The girl exclaimed, not thinking about how the man could possibly know that, "The water looked to stretch so far that it was difficult to tell where the water ended and where the sky started. Some nights, the water was so still that it seemed like it was a lake of stars and you stood, right there, in the middle of them." The girl recounted with a soft smile lingering on her lips. It was an enchanting feature of her's that Martin was sure to note.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, when you start to feel frightened, or like you cannot handle this, you close those eyes of your's and you imagine yourself on that bridge, standing in the stars." Stein leaned closer to the girl next to him on the bench of the dark van, "Then you count to ten. Let your feet completely take you over--but only for those ten seconds. And once you reach ten, its gone and you open your eyes and you do what you must." He sat up straight, readjusting himself. "It works for me every time."<br/>
<br/>
The four sat in a stunned quiet for many moments, considering Martin's advice, before Sara broke the spell. "We're a couple minutes out, guys. So prepare yourselves. Ray, turn left here."<br/>
<br/>
As Ray and Sara were quietly discussing specific directions in the front, leaving the two in the back eyeing each other curiously. "Did you know of the bridge I was talking about?" She whispered.<br/>
<br/>
Martin shrugged, attempting to seem noncommittal even though he was fairly sure the girl wouldn't be able to see the movement. "I know of a bridge that matched your description. It was on the north side of town, just on the outskirts past the most quaint--"<br/>
<br/>
"Flower garden." Juliette finished with him.<br/>
<br/>
When Martin doesn't correct her, the girl mulled over the new information quietly. For some time, she'd thought the bridge was something her mind had created, but upon hearing the Professor's description, nothing had ever felt so <em>real </em>to her. Maybe she had actually seen it once, but had Martin seen it too? She had <em>so </em>many questions. She picked one, "Why were you in Little Mountain?"<br/>
<br/>
"My wife is from there." The man hummed, then start to explain after he saw the questions whirling behind the girl's eyes. "Her name is Clarissa. She grew up there, but I had only visited once. When I asked her father if I could marry her."<br/>
<br/>
"Tell me about her." Juliette blurted out, before she could even begin to stop herself from being so nosy. Sara huffed quietly from behind the wheel; first the girl's fascination with Paris, now interrogating a man about his wife? The girl was certainly a hopeful romantic, although Sara was sure the girl had no idea what that meant.<br/>
<br/>
Martin got a wistful smile on his face. How could he even <em>begin</em> to describe the love of his life? "She's..." he started and was encouraged by the girl's hopeful expression, "Perfect. The most beautiful woman I've ever seen. She's kind, and forgiving, and intelligent. And she's given me a perfect daughter."<br/>
<br/>
Juliette felt her heart soar over this man's adoration of his wife, and was intrigued by the idea of the Professor's child. "You have a daughter?'<br/>
<br/>
"Oh yes," Martin laughed fondly, "Her name is Lily. And she's just as curious as you, always asked a million questions a minute, even when she was a girl, like you."<br/>
<br/>
The girl's cheeks felt warm in an unfamiliar feeling. Flattery? "Where is she now?"<br/>
<br/>
Martin absent-mindedly glanced at his watch, as if it could remind him of the year instead of just how late at night it was. "In 2017? She's in Star City, pregnant with my first grandchild."<br/>
<br/>
"We're in 2017? That's the year I was born." The girl noted casually.<br/>
<br/>
"Do you know what day?" He found himself asking, surprised by the urgency in his voice.<br/>
<br/>
"May, I think." Juliette shrugged, honestly not too sure. "At least, that's what the nurse told me."<br/>
<br/>
Martin opened his mouth, trying to figure out how to push the topic past an incident of coincidence, when Sara stepped back from the passenger seat. "Sorry to interrupt, guys" She made purposeful eye contact with the older man to convey her sincerity, "But we're about to pull up. It's time to take these." She opened a small case that displayed four large, green pills.<br/>
<br/>
Juliette immediately shied away. "What's that?"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh no, no." Sara rushed to assure her, "It's nothing bad, I promise."<br/>
<br/>
"The people picking us up will probably be speaking Kaznian. These pills will allow us to understand them and speak back." Martin demonstrated by taking a pill and tucking it into his mouth. He hated swallowing pills dry, but found himself doing so for appearance's sake for the kid.<br/>
<br/>
Following his example, the girl cautiously picked up a pill and placed it on her tongue. "You swallow it." Sara instructed, swallowing her own.<br/>
<br/>
"Hand me mine?" Ray called over his shoulder, reaching back for Sara. Only then did the girl swallow the pill.<br/>
<br/>
"Is everyone clear on the plan?" Sara searched for affirmation in each member of her team. She was starting to get those jitters she always got before a mission, even with Ollie. Though she enjoyed them, she would soon slip into the icy focus that her mission would bring. "Play it cool during the pick up, then we're in deep cover starting the moment we see the militia facility."<br/>
<br/>
"Yes, mom, we're clear." Juliette surprised everyone by playing along so naturally.<br/>
<br/>
Though taken aback, Sara smiled. "Alright, <em>honey</em>, we're going for a little less teen angst-y and a little more people pleaser/teacher's pet, alright?"<br/>
<br/>
The girl nodded, smiling because she knew she had done something right, but not really having any clue what Sara meant. But they had talked about this, earlier--on their way to the fabrication room to join up with the rest of Alpha team. Juliette was meant to be what Sara described as the 'sleeper' of the team, the ingenue with a couple tricks up her sleeve. Although the girl insisted she had no talents that could help in this situation, Sara had assured her that the team could cover for her. 'The team' being her mother, Jennifer, her father, Aaron, and grandfather, John, who all had their own team assignments and specialties. Their info from Agent Sharpe's source warned that they would be tested on their specialty skills, but also on their ability to preform as a typical American family, and Juliette knew her primary objective laid in selling the latter.<br/>
<br/>
The girl took a deep breath in , not allowing the tension of the mission to create tension in her body. In a way, this was very similar to the tests the Doctor had forced her through. She was always given some sort of objective and an order in the was it must be completed. Those tests were highly nuanced, where her every decision was closely monitored for heavy dissection later, and the success of her passing depended on her obedience mostly, but also sometimes a certain percentage of sharp wit and skill. The tests that drove her the most crazy were the few exceptions to the rules that seemed to always try to push her into some extreme duress that left her crying and debilitated for days to test her endurance. She hated those.<br/>
<br/>
But she hoped, <em>trusted,</em> that the days of those tests were over, thanks to the protection of the Legends. Or the protection Sara had guaranteed earlier. But Juliette could tell anyways that this mission--or any mission that involved the Legends--wouldn't be anything like the Doctor's old tests. Mission the Legends went on, from what she had gathered, required a little more... <em>Creativity</em>, rather than blind obedience. Creativity and sheer improvisation, which the girl hoped she could swing.<br/>
<br/>
The passengers of the van felt the driver swing a wide turn and stop in a parking spot at the far end of a lot near a highway rest area. Ray cut off the engine and turned around in his seat before he smiled with brave excitement, "It's go time, Bristows."<br/>
<br/>
Deciding to waste no time, Sara kicked open the door as Ray opened his door and stepped out. Martin and the girl then stepped out behind their Captain into the dimly lit corner of the lot where another van waited. Two men, obviously foreign and seemingly weathered, leaned coolly against their car smoking cigarettes. Only Sara's trained eyes caught the slight twitch of both of their hands as they fingered the guns in their pockets. Not for the first time, she wished they were armed in case this went poorly, but reminded herself with satisfaction that she didn't need weapons to take down a measly two armed men.<br/>
<br/>
"<em>Are</em> <em>you</em> <em>the</em> <em>Bolkonskys</em>?" The older one asked, the green language pills the only reason the Legends could understand the heavily accented words.<br/>
<br/>
Sara subtly eyed Martin, nudging him to take the lead as the one the Kaznians would most easily accept as the head of the group. Martin cleared his throat and puffed out his chest so slightly that only the Legends noticed as he morphed into Jonathan Bristow/Bolkonsky. "<em>Yes</em>, <em>we</em> <em>are</em>. <em>Who</em> <em>are</em> <em>you</em>?"<br/>
<br/>
The older man huffed, and the lack of immediate rejection meant that somehow Martin had passed the first test. "<em>I</em> <em>am</em> <em>Vlad</em>, <em>and</em> <em>this</em> <em>is</em> <em>my</em> <em>coworker</em>, <em>Dimitri</em>." The men shamelessly glanced the four over. "<em>Well, let us not waste any time. Get</em> <em>in</em> <em>the van.</em>"<br/>
<br/>
Getting straight to the point, they guessed, the Legends followed them to the van. The younger one--Dimitri--slipped into the front seat behind the while and started the engine while the older one opened the door and waved them in hurriedly. It made sense that they were on a strict timeline, they didn't want to be out in the open more than they needed. Martin led the team, going first towards the opening, when he was paused. "<em>I have to search you. You understand, yeah?</em>" Vlad held out his hands in a shrug. Martin nodded, begrudgingly, and held out his arms so that the man could pat him down. Vlad did so efficiently and thoroughly, lightly taping all the way down both of his sides, probably searching for recording devices or weapons. Upon finding none, he waved the man into the van.<br/>
<br/>
Martin headed towards the front so he could talk with the men if he needed and keep an eye out the door for anything fishy with the search. Sara approached the van next, and Vlad smirked as he stepped toward him. He began patting down her sides, being significantly more <em>thorough</em> than he'd felt the need to be with Martin and had a wide margin for what he counted as her sides. The woman tensed her fist, thinking about how easy it would be to take him out, but instead prioritized the need to not cause trouble before they got to the compound. He grinned ear to ear as he stepped away from her and offered her a hand to step through the entrance to the van, which she promptly ignored and climbed in herself. Though Sara thought she hid her reaction to him well, the older man wore a knowing smirk--somehow figuring out exactly how to make the woman's blood boil in mere seconds. She stood just inside the door, though, waiting and watching carefully as Vlad patted the girl down. Luckily, he did not seem to extend the need for thoroughness to a girl so young and quickly waved her through. It took the few seconds for Ray to climb in to get herself and Juliette to a seat, <em>and</em> to simmer down, when she noticed a third man in the very back of the van who had yet to speak, just observe.<br/>
<br/>
One they were all seated, Vlad closed the door and walked around to the passenger seat. After a short, brief whistle to signify he was ready to go, the man adjusted the rear-view mirror to inspect his new recruits. "<em>The</em> <em>girl</em>. <em>She is</em>... <em>younger than we expected.</em>" Juliette had accidentally made eye contact with the man through the mirror and immediately looked to her lap and rubbed her wrists.<br/>
<br/>
Sara laid a soft, warm hand over the wrists to pause the habit. "<em>She's</em> <em>15</em>. <em>Just</em> <em>like</em> <em>it</em> <em>says</em> <em>in</em> <em>her</em> <em>file</em>." She declared with such finality that Vlad's suspicion tapered.<br/>
<br/>
He chuckled, "<em>You're</em> <em>right</em>." He agreed, his accent heavy. "<em>Back there, with you. That's Mikhail."<br/>
</em><br/>
"You can call me Michael. How's your English?" He asked in a smooth, unmistakable accent of a native speaker.<br/>
<br/>
"It's perfect." Martin answered as the elected speaker of the group now, persona shifted into an arrogant criminal embarking on the greatest feat of his career. "How's yours?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter Eleven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As they started their drive--to where, they didn't know--the lights inside the vehicle came on. Their first order of business was to investigate the new inhabitant; Michael. He was wearing a business suit, one that looked European, which contrasted the worn plain clothes the other two men wore. He was well groomed, young, and unarguably attractive. Sara wondered what a man like him could be doing in a business like this. After scanning over him, the Legends--or really, the Bristows now--found that there was also a lot of tech in the back of the van with them. Several computer screens were a fuzzy black before them, with a thin desk of gadgets and keyboards below the screens.<br/><br/>"The first matter of business," Michael called their attention to him, "Is taking photos for identification purposes. Don't smile please." He deadpanned. He held a small camera in front of each of their faces and a bright light captured their pictures. A machine towards the front of the van started printing and making noises.<br/><br/>"Now, I'm sure you've thoroughly reviewed the files we've exchanged regarding the expectations and purpose of the place where we're going." Michael began.<br/><br/>"<em>Where</em>, exactly, is it that we're going?" Ray asked, remembering that they're supposed to not know.<br/><br/>"The exact location must remain a secret, even from you. You understand." Michael said flippantly, "But our facility is called Dark Valley."<br/><br/>Martin laughed, "Ominous."<br/><br/>Michael chuckled too, but his laugh was dark and void of humor. "Yes, well, it has a deep meaning to us. As will it to you when you finish the program." The Legends just nodded, not willing to push any buttons or boundaries at the moment. "Anyway, for review, the evaluation of your ability to prove yourselves as a viable American family begins as soon as we enter into Dark Valley. We will be arriving very early in the morning, so you will be given the opportunity to settle into your new open upon arrival, but will be introduced and evaluated beginning in the mid-morning at a neighborhood breakfast held in your honor. Think of it as an entrance exam, a chance to prove you belong in the business. Failure will result in immediate dismissal from the program."<br/><br/>Sara inwardly groaned at the idea of not getting to go completely back to sleep tonight. Running on fumes their first day did not sound appealing. Only then did she wish she had order the team to take a full night's sleep <em>then</em> start the mission in the morning. She envied Ava very much in that moment, getting to sleep in her comfy, private bed for at least a little bit.<br/><br/>"Assuming you pass the entrance exam, you will be entered in individual training exercises for each of your specialties as well as scheduled and unscheduled assessments to gauge your progress as a team and individually for phase one of training. As a juvenile, the girl will attend an academy instead of individual training exercises and will be expected to participate in one scheduled assessment during phase one of your training. Phase two will require every member of your team in every assessment."<br/><br/>Sara nodded at the girl. That was good news. Although she was nervous for the girl as the academy would likely be teaching her things she had no prior knowledge in, Sara thought it would be good to learn from an academy for spies-in-the-making. And the kid only had to do one of their assessments with them, and it'd be scheduled so they would be able to prepare the girl somewhat. That was <em>good</em> news.<br/><br/>The man turned specifically to the girl. "All students must be enrolled in one extracurricular and one area of specialization. In your room, you will find a course catalog that details these options and you must come prepared with your selections on Monday." Sara made a note to help the girl figure which options were achievable and compatible with her.<br/><br/>"As for the rest of you, although I have been assured that you are at the top of your fields, you will be given the opportunity to practice and develop your specialties at our facilities as well as learn procedure for our organization. You will find details about how the sciences, weapons, and cyber specialties meet in files in your room when you arrive." He carefully inspected the members of the 'family' before him, looking each person up and down, as if to gauge them simply by looking at them. "Until then, you're free to relax. It's only a few hours to the town."<br/><br/>Ray looked to each of the Legends as they settled in their seats. Not that it seemed like you could really get comfortable in them, but they could at least try, right? He thought to how sudden all of this happened. Just a few hours ago they were in a bar, playing darts and having beers (well, most of them). Now they were in the middle of Kaznia with these three terrorist/spy dudes. And they had to pull off being a family. Not that Ray was anticipating it being a huge problem... He just couldn't help but feel under-prepared. Like, they should've had a dress rehearsal or something with all of this. Suddenly, he had a <em>wife</em> and a <em>kid, and</em> a father. He couldn't quite stop himself from feeling a little sad about it all. All his life, that's all Ray'd ever wanted; a beautiful family that cared for him and that he could protect with his everything. He'd be good in his role as Aaron Bristow, but it wouldn't come without reminder of what he'd once almost had. Ray promised himself that although he knew he would never feel anything more than intense older brother-ly protection for Sara and Juliette, and fond friendship and identification with Martin, he would hold these moments of a whole family preciously in his memory. He never thought he'd have a chance like this again, to play loving husband, doting father, and dutiful son.<br/><br/>The girl was sitting between him and Sara on the long bench running along the side of the van, while Martin sat against the very back doors with Michael. Ray was surprised--and flattered, really--, when he felt Juliette lay her head on his shoulder rather than Sara's. His eyebrows furrowed as he glanced to his side, to be met with wide, green eyes silently asking permission. Instead of requiring a verbal response, Ray relaxed his shoulder more, puffing it out to the side for a better angle, and the girl gently snuggled against the joint, allowing her sleepy eyes to float shut. Ray couldn't help but peak over to the settling girl a moment later, to find her almost asleep, then glanced past her to Sara. Sara was sitting as slumped on the bench as she could, arms crossed and eyes closed with her head gently leaning against the wall of the car, signs of a well-calloused traveler. Ray doubted that the woman would actually be able to get any rest with the vehicle moving--her guard would be too high to allow it--as she's a light sleeper anyway and would want to keep watch. He looked over to Martin, to check on him, to find his head leaned back and mouth gaping, already mostly asleep.<br/><br/>Ray couldn't help a third glance over the girl, somehow so exhausted by the couple days' events that though she wasn't completely asleep in her mind yet, her body was totally still with tiredness. He now noticed the girl's hand had drifted over and was now lightly gripped over his hand, as if he tried to move her while she was asleep, she'd notice first. Again, he wondered why she would've moved to sleep on him instead of Sara. He was sure they were closer and she would feel more comfortable being close to her. But then Ray realized what could be the difference. Sara had found her first in that cell--possibly representing discovery and relief to the girl, but it had been Ray who <em>rescued</em> her. By Sara's command, of course, but it'd been Ray who had carried the girl to safety. That doesn't have any affect over who Juliette felt more connection to or trust with, just--in this moment--the girl needed action and safety and momentary <em>rescue</em>.<br/><br/>Or maybe the girl just thought that Sara's bony shoulders would be uncomfortable (which would be true) compared to Ray's muscles. Either made sense, he guessed.</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/>Juliette woke to gentle shaking. She rubbed her eyes groggily then opened them to take stock of her surroundings. They were still in the van, with the same people, it was still night. She could tell that some time passed, but by how groggy she still felt, it hadn't been very long. "We almost there?" The girl asked, her voice thick with sleep. Sara nodded then hummed an affirmation.<br/><br/>"We're almost to the compound." Martin provided. And suddenly, he was very grateful for the way their family dynamics had turned out in their favor in regards to the kid. As the patriarch of the family, him giving commands would be expected. As the girl's parents, Sara and Ray could keep the girl within arm's reach for gentle guidance of behavior. As such a new and inexperienced member of the team, in an extraordinary case, she'd need it. Her being a kid would hopefully buy her a little extra wiggle room in lack of general know-how in this tough environment. And they'd have her back, regardless.<br/><br/>They arrived upon a gate, it was surround by a fence that was high and wired with barbs at the top. Three men with heavy artillery stationed at the entrance. Both Vlad and Dimitri lowered their windows and spoke a couple rushed words of a foreign language that the Legends couldn't catch before they were waved through. The van then passed through an open area of about 50 yards before reaching a heavy brick barrier at least 20 yards high. Even from her seat in the back, Sara cussed under her breath as she caught sight of the two patrol towers that seemed to cover the entire facility. They would make it almost impossible to escape, if need be. They had noticed, gratefully, that the compound was surround by a tree line, at least.<br/><br/>As they passed through the second barricade, each Bristow family member craned their neck to get a glance at their new home for the immediate future. "Welcome, Bristows, to Dark Valley." Vlad called over his shoulder in an accented English.<br/><br/>It was dark, but the road they were passing down was lined with street lights so they could see the buildings they passed. They seemed to be on the main street of the town, with buildings labeled '<b>First Bank</b>', '<b>City Hall</b>', and '<b>Hospital</b>' and other significant buildings that a small town would have at their center. The buildings had brick facades and there were several restaurants that had seating out on the sidewalk. There were pleasant trees, tidily trimmed, lining most of the road, but careful to not obscure any of the signs of the buildings they stood in front of. Just passing through it, the three adults that had seen a thing or two in their lives associated it with any other quaint, neat town they had been to. But this town, they knew, hid dark souls and even darker secrets.<br/><br/>"This is Main Street, the main hub of town. There is the city market, it's there every day 6 to 6. You'll go there for your groceries." He pointed at an empty square to the right of the city hall. "Other than that, you'll need to go to the 24 hour pharmacy that we just passed. Someone will give you a tour in the morning if you have any questions."<br/><br/>It felt so odd to each of the Legends to be given a tour of the town that they know is a training ground for potential espionage and acts of terror. This man was pointing out the market like it was so mundane, not filled with dangerous villains. But they had to stay focused. It was not their mission to come in and take the whole organization down. But they were sure to start taking notes of intel that they could pass along to the Time Bureau when <em>they</em> are prepared to take these people down.<br/><br/>"To get to your house," Michael spoke again, recalling the Legends' attention, "You're the second left and first right. It's 11 Salem Lane."<br/><br/>"Salem?" Sara asked skeptically. Seemed kind of cheesy to her.<br/><br/>"The boss man named all of the streets: LaLaurie, Waverly Hills, Stanley, Sleepy Hollow." The man shrugged laughingly, "It's kinda his thing."<br/><br/>"Will we be able to meet this 'boss man'?" Stein casually probed.<br/><br/>Michael nodded. "If you make it into phase two, for sure."<br/><br/>The driver swung a wide turn to pull in front of one house and stop the car. "Here we are, 11 Salem Lane."<br/><br/>The house was nicer than they had expected, bigger too. They hadn't bothered with a garage, but had a rainbow driveway leading up to the front door. The house, from what they could tell in the dark, was painted light blue with white lining and one wall was accented with thin light gray stone. There was a porch that spanned the entire length of the house, with tasteful seating to one end, and a dark gray door at the entrance.<br/><br/>"Here you guys are." Michael had jumped out of the van and was holding the door open for them as they pilled out the back. "You'll find the door unlocked and your rooms fully furnished with anything you could need. All the rooms are on the second floor, you'll be able to tell which one is yours. Brunch starts tomorrow at 10 am. You don't need to cook, your new neighbors will bring all the food." He climbed back into the van.<br/><br/>"Sleep well, Bristows! See you in a couple hours." He called as the van pulled away and he shut the door.<br/><br/>And then the Bristows were left there, standing in front of their new house, no luggage, no anything besides themselves. The four of them just stood there for several beats, waiting for their brains to catch up with how bizarre this case is, even for them.<br/><br/>It was Martin who stepped up first. "Okay, team. Lets go see our new house." He started towards the door, his 'family' in tow.<br/><br/>Ray opened the door first, half expecting... Well, he didn't know exactly what he was expecting. But it certainly wasn't what he found. When he opened the door, he was met with a very nice, cozy home. The floors were dark wood and walls painted very light gray. The furniture was expensive looking, but tasteful. He went to inspect the office area directly to the right of the door, as Sara, Martin, and Juliette ventured further into the home. Sara made a beeline to the kitchen, where she opened a stainless steel fridge to find it fully stocked with the main necessities and then some. Martin checked out the back deck that you could see in through the living room window that had a grill and outdoor seating set. Juliette just stood in the middle of the doorway, shocked. She'd thought the Waverider was the nicest living space she'd remembered seeing, but this was a <em>home</em>. She couldn't help but be satisfied with it, even though she knew it wasn't real.<br/><br/>The girl wanted to go explore, as she was sure the downstairs of the house had so many brilliant, <em>homey</em> things that she would like to see, but for now--she was just too tired. "He said the bedrooms were upstairs?" The girl asked sleepily.<br/><br/>When Sara turned back to the girl after she asked the question, Sara noticed the girl slightly swaying, looking as though she'd fall asleep any second, even if she were still standing up. "She's right, guys. We should probably head up to bed, we have a big day ahead of us." She moved towards the girl and walked just behind her up the stairs, glancing behind her to see the boys in tow.<br/><br/>Upstairs, there was a hallway that ended with a window, and five rooms; two on the right, three on the left. The first one on the left had '<b>Claire</b>' written on a neat nameplate. Just for curiosity's sake, Ray opened the one across from it to be met with a athletic training space, complete with mirrored wall and mats that Sara--at least--could still train; she'd be pleased with that. He shut the door behind him and sauntered further down the hall with Martin to see where his and Sara's room would be. Inwardly, he groaned. He hadn't thought of having to share a room with Sara. Obviously, she's an attractive woman, but he could never see her as anything more or less than sisterly. It wasn't any real reason though, it was just the loss of privacy that he mourned. And the knowledge that he knew it'd be weird between them no matter how they played this. Luckily, they'd been friends for a long time--since their <em>Star</em> <em>City </em>days--and he trusted they'd make it work.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Sara was seeing the girl into her room. When Juliette had opened the door, the soft pink walls had warmly embraced her. Her bed was a full, at most, and against the far two walls from the door with a soft but modest gray comforter. The accents around the room were white and a touch of gold, with white furniture including a moderate-sized dresser and a desk chair, perfectly sized for her. The room wasn't huge, but had big windows that opened to the back yard, which were currently covered by gray curtains. Juliette wasn't sure what she would've ever wanted from a bedroom, if she'd ever had one, but she imagined she would've picked out something like this. It was perfect.<br/><br/>"What do you think?" Sara asked after watching the girl stare at the room for several moments.<br/><br/>The girl smiled. "I love it." She turned and crashed into Sara with a hug. Realistically, she knew that Sara had absolutely nothing to do with it, but she still felt the need to share the moment with someone and express her pleasure. Her very first bedroom.<br/><br/>Sara couldn't help but smile either, gently rubbing the girl's back for just a moment, enjoying the contact. But the girl really need to get to sleep. "Okay, bean." She patted the girl's back, breaking the hug. "We've really gotta go to bed. I don't know about you, but I'm <em>exhausted</em>." She turned the girl towards her bed.<br/><br/>Juliette sleepily shuffled to her bed and slipped into it. "Me too." She hummed, eyes still closed.<br/><br/>"You know," Sara pulled back the sheets for her, "Normally people put on pajamas before they get in bed."<br/><br/>"Pajamas?" Juliette's brow furrowed.<br/><br/>It was only then that Sara realized with a pang of guilt that the girl might genuinely not know what pajamas are. "Uh, yeah." She swallowed her desire to bring it up to the girl, "They're like, soft and comfy clothes that are specifically for sleeping. We'll find you a pair tomorrow." Sara surveyed that the athletic cargo pants and v-neck were fine for the girl to sleep in one night.<br/><br/>"Wow." Juliette grinned, snuggling further into her fresh sheets and blankets. "A new family, room to myself, <em>and</em> 'jamas? All in one day? I'm a lucky girl."<br/><br/>Sara was sure she was mostly asleep as she mumbled those final words, but they had a matter of business to attend to before she could let the girl doze off. She sat down next to her on the bed. "<em>Clarke</em>." She said, alerting the girl to her role and that something was happening. Sure enough, the girl's eyes forced themselves open to remain attentive to whatever Sara was about to tell her. "Clarke, I'm going to tuck you in and then go to my room down the hall. I think I saw a bathroom is the next door down. Come and get me if you need me?"<br/><br/>Somehow, Juliette managed to pull herself into some state of awareness. "Oh yeah, Mom." She let the title hang precariously in the air for just a moment. With the slightest of nods from Sara, she's encouraged and continued. "I'll be alright. I promise." She looked at Sara with such sincerity, that the woman has no chance but to believe her.<br/><br/>"Alright, bean." Sara tugged the covers up to the girl and made sure her feet were properly situated. The woman leaned over and positioned herself as if she were going to kiss the girl's cheek. Instead, she whispered, "<em>Cameras</em>." Sara sat up then pushed herself off the bed, waiting for the girl to work out what she meant until a look of recognition was present. They couldn't be sure who was monitoring these cameras she had noticed all over the house, if anyone even was, or what they would be looking for. Cameras in the house meant that they couldn't slip on either identity that they had; the Bristows or the team meant to be portraying them. There would be a <em>small</em> margin of error for messing up their American identities, but no essence of the Legends could be shown in the house. This would <em>not</em> be easy.<br/><br/>Sara gave a purposeful nod. "Goodnight." She made way towards the door. Her hand hovered over the light switch and she was about to flip the lights off when she was halted.<br/><br/>"Wait!" A desperate shout came from the bed, the girl inhabiting it no longer calm and sleepy, but instead now panicked and very much awake. "I'm not afraid of the dark, but..." She trailed off. Juliette was afraid it would seem childish. Here they were, in another time, in a far away place, filled with the worsts of the worst. And she was afraid of the dark. Or rather, what could be waiting in it.<br/><br/>Sara didn't need any further explanation. She understood. It was about their conversation earlier. "You know what? I have a solution." Sara left the room and backtracked the couple of steps towards the stairs, where she found what she was looking for. She had noticed it on their way up. Sara returned to the room and plugged in the night light to the wall, in the closest outlet to the door, in case the girl needed to find her way out of the room. Once she'd righted herself, she smiled softly at the girl, who seemed significantly more calm. She hovered her hand over the light switch for just a moment, to warn the girl, and made sure the night light was activated before switching the lights off. She could still pretty clearly make out the outline of the girl in her bed, and knew that Juliette would be able to see her in return. "Sleep well." She wished.<br/><br/>And as Sara was shutting the door, she could've sworn she heard a soft "You too" over the creak of the door. But after pausing outside the door, with the crack allowing her to peer in, and not hearing anything else, the Captain wearily walked down the hall to find her own bedroom.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter Twelve</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sara stopped at the end of the hall. There were two doors; one to the right, and another to the left. One went to her and Ray's room, while the other went to Martin's room. But she wasn't sure which was which. So she picked. She turned to the right, knocked once, and gently opened the door. "Hello?" She called in.<br/><br/>"Emily?" The voice inside responded. Sara sighed deeply in relief that she'd guessed correctly as she pushed the door further open. Luckily, Ray was already in a set of pajamas he must've found because Sara did <em>not</em> want to deal with the awkwardness of changing in front of each other right then. "I was about to come looking for you." He sat down on the bed. "Which side of the bed do you want?"<br/><br/>Sara was thrown for a loop momentarily, but eventually realized how kind and respectful that question was. "Normally, I sleep on the right." She answered, allowing him to do whatever he wanted with the information as she headed towards the big oak dresser against the wall to her left.<br/><br/>"Your stuff is on the right." Ray provided as he scooted to the left side of the bed.<br/><br/>"Thanks." Sara mumbled in reply.<br/><br/>Ray noticed something was off. He'd expected the Captain to feel as uncomfortable with this as he was, and she was--a bit. But mostly she just seemed <em>finished</em> with the day. He decided to act on it, "Are you alright?" He chose an ambiguous phrase, something she could easily swat away if she didn't feel like talking. Ray knew good and well that the Captain only shared on her own time table, which was fine, but if they were supposed to be married, he wanted to begin to build a pathway of trust between them two. "Just, if you wanted to talk. You don't have to." He advised, knowing that Sara would speak if and when she was ready.<br/><br/>Her back was to him, as she pulled a silky, long set of pajamas out of the middle drawer. They were light purple but very close to her size. She liked them, they were soft. She frowned as she decided what her answer would be, then turned to face him. She settled leaning against the dresser, her arms behind her on the edge, holding her steady. "She didn't know what pajamas were." The words seemed to fall from her mouth without her consent, but knowing in her heart that she didn't want to carry the girl's burdens alone. After she'd said the words, she didn't feel the familiar regret that came with starting to talk about her <em>feelings</em>. She was surprisingly comforted to trust Ray. They had been good friends for so long.<br/><br/>"Clarke?" He somehow managed to filter the raw surprise enough to use the correct name.<br/><br/>Sara managed a nod, crossing her arms in attempt at hiding how hurt she felt by the admission. "I tried to get her into them before she fell asleep, but she didn't know what they were."<br/><br/>"Poor kid." was all Ray could say. There wasn't really much more to say in the situation. This kid they were responsible for, for the immediate future, was... Deprived. There was so much about the world she didn't know. The weight of her world hung heavily on their hearts.<br/><br/>"Maybe we shouldn't have brought her here." Sara confessed, wondering closer to Ray until she sat beside him on his side of the bed. "If she didn't know about damn <em>pajamas,</em> there's probably so much else she doesn't know about. We can teach her, of course, and protect her. But she won't be with us all the time. Who knows who she'll be surrounded by. People might take advantage of her once they realize how naive she is." It was suddenly a very real, palpable fear. Yes, dragging her on this mission kept her out of reach from Mister-Crazy-Doctor-Guy, but it put her in reach of other terrible criminals. Could they <em>really</em> protect her enough?<br/><br/>"Listen, we <em>can</em> do this. She'll do school, <em>one</em> extracurricular, and then come home where one of us can be with her." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "And maybe some of the neighbors will bring their kids tomorrow. Maybe there's a kid there that we can verify ourselves and match Clarke up with for school. Okay?" Ray looked to her eyes until he received a begrudging nod from Sara. Neither of them would claim it as the best idea they've ever had, but it'll do. "Will a hug make you feel better?" Ray broke the tension with a laugh, moving in for a hug anyways.<br/><br/>Sara pushed off his arm laughingly and scooted away. "Ew, no, you weirdo." She swatted at his hand. He advanced anyway and managed to wrap most of her shoulders in a hug despite her resistance. "<em>Aaron</em>, get off!" She whined.<br/><br/>"What?" He feigned cluelessness, "Is a man not allowed to <em>hug</em> his <em>wife</em>?"<br/><br/>The door opened, and the sound immediately caused them to separate. "Uh, am I interrupting something?" Martin stood in the doorway in a light gray robe and fuzzy green slippers, aloof and ready to bolt if he saw something he wasn't supposed to.<br/><br/>"Just a bit of husband-wife time." Ray grinned, earning a punch in the bicep and eye roll from Sara and an impassive look from Martin. "Why, what's up?"<br/><br/>He shuffled deeper into the room and shut the door behind him. "Just wanted to touch base about tomorrow. All of this happened so fast, you know?"<br/><br/>Not for the first time today, Sara wished she would've given the team a night's rest before leaving for the mission. She knew this mission was crucial, but she should've noticed the team's weariness and accounted for it before sending them off on another mission, even if it was right after a night off. But Ava had related the mission as top-of-the-list important and that the Legends were the only ones who could complete it. Otherwise, the timeline would be a messy, millions would die, blah, blah, blah; the usual for them.<br/><br/>But Martin's question was valid and needed to be answered before they could go to sleep. The question seemed to be speculative, as if waiting to see who would step up and deliver the game plan for the next day. Really, Martin was asking who should make this call, waiting for the Captain's say that would reverberate throughout the entirety of the mission, as planned. Sara settled on deference instead of coming up with her own mode of action, even in 'private', deciding it would be like a practice in delegation. "What do you think we should do?"<br/><br/>The Professor nodded, accepting the role that Sara was handing him gracefully. "Well, first we all need to shower." That brought a smile to both Ray and Sara's faces. They'd love a hot shower right then, but they were all just too tired. "But at brunch, like you said before, we play it cool. Stay in pairs. Friendly, but not overtly so. Don't draw too much attention to ourselves either way. Meet everyone but reserve judgement on who to make acquaintance of."<br/><br/>"That's a good point, <em>Pops</em>." Ray noted. "It's inevitable that we have to make some friends here, right?" He could see the objection on Sara's tongue and rushed to qualify his statement, "Not people to trust or anything. Just people we'll need to befriend. We won't fit in if we're loners. Might as well be on the lookout from the start for who we can align ourselves with."<br/><br/>"Fine, I guess you both are right." Sara agreed. "But we only really have tomorrow to get settled in. We know that Clarke goes to school on Monday, so it can probably be assumed that we'll start then too."<br/><br/>Martin nodded. "Right. Tomorrow, we relax and get a lay of the land. Monday, we start the real work." Ray and Sara both looked at each other and nodded, it was a good start to a plan with the information that they had currently. "But that's all I really wanted to talk to you about." He pulled the waistband of his robe tighter. He was about to turn and walk out, when he gathered he should probably give a better departure for the night. "Well, I should be getting to bed." He grinned at the thought of how soft his bed is.<br/><br/>"Wait, <em>Pops</em>." Sara smirked at the name as she pulled herself up from the bed. She rounded the corner and put her arms out, to signify to him that she was about to hug him--because that's what kind of warning she would want. "Goodnight." She stood on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck and pulled herself close to his cheek. "There are cameras everywhere. Be careful." She managed to whisper, then pecked his cheek and stood back.<br/><br/>He gave her a firm nod. "Goodnight, Emily." He gave a curt nod, "Son." He called across the room to Ray, who waved back. Sara rolled her eyes. When they weren't so tired, they'd have to practice being a normal family. They weren't ever this weird with each other on the ship, but on the ship the interactions and connections fell naturally, instead of feeling so forced. She imagined that they'd need to get used to touching each other, with little hugs and affectionate pats, but they all shared the same damn bathroom. They didn't need to get any closer. They just needed to get more comfortable with each other, in a way that manifests to the other people here as familial. Just a bit of practice.<br/><br/>A moment later, Sara'd shut the door behind the old man and was suddenly very aware of how she was alone in the bedroom with Ray. She needed to not be, just for a moment. "I'm going to get ready for bed in the bathroom." She announced, then rolled her eyes at how unauthentic that had to have sounded. They'll have to be a <em>lot</em> more convincing at the brunch in the morning. But for today, they've done enough. Sara's out of the master bathroom connected to their room within five minutes, but when she exited back into the main room, Ray was deeply asleep on his side of the bed. Sara chuckled at the sight of him sprawled out on their cozy king bed as she slipped in next to him. "Goodnight, Aaron." She wished, pecking his cheek even though he wouldn't know it, and snuggled deeper into her side of the bed. She didn't even turn out the overhead lights.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter Thirteen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ray had always been an early riser, even when he was a kid. He'd just always found that the day ahead of him was too exciting to be left waiting. So that morning, like almost every other, Ray found himself drifting into consciousness just as the sun was starting to rise. For a moment, he looked around at the unfamiliar room and associated it with the memories of the night--or earlier morning?--before. The bedroom was tasteful, as was everything in the house, with two walls of windows that dark curtains now covered. It had wooden furniture and grayish-blue accents seen on the bed spread and rug. The room wasn't overly lavish, but stylish and comfortable--just the mix Ray preferred.<br/><br/>Ray peaked over to the other side of the bed to see a blonde halo of hair that surrounded the still sleeping Sara. He was grateful that their bed was so large, that they didn't have to worry over being to close or possible collision in the night. He watched Sara curiously for just a moment, noticing how <em>still</em> she looked. And he had never pegged her for a back sleeper. After his moment of observation, he suddenly felt very uncomfortable watching his friend still asleep. Ray was just about to sit up, as slowly as possible in efforts not to wake the woman, Sara turned her head away from him.<br/><br/>"Is this how you're going to wake me up every morning?" She asked, eyes still closed, as far as Ray could tell.<br/><br/>But he wasn't swayed by her grumpy disposition. "Good morning to you, too, Emily."<br/><br/>Sara didn't need to open her eyes to know that there was a stupid grin on Ray's face for how early it was. She tossed an arm over her eyes dramatically, in effort to block them from the sun seeping in from the windows. "You have to come up with a nickname." She stated. And before Ray could ask for clarification, she explained, "<em>Emily</em> just seems to formal."<br/><br/>"What would you prefer?" He sat up and looked over at her.<br/><br/>Sara's eyes finally opened to look to him. "You should chose." She offered with heavy implication. She was trying to nudge him to take creative license. They were supposed to be married, they couldn't be seen trying to tip-toe around each other's boundaries all the time. Sara was pushing him into a role of equals, back to when they were just friends in Starling City, not captain and team-mate.<br/><br/>"Is..." Ray thought, picking up that this was important to Sara. That it was important to her that he feel a level of comfort and trust with her. "Is Em okay?"<br/><br/>Sara smirked. "Yeah, its great." She rubbed a hand over her face. "But I'm <em>not</em> calling you sweetie or anything."<br/><br/>"We'll see about that." Ray laughed, pulling the sheets from his legs and swinging them over the side of the bed. "I was just about to hop in the shower. Unless you wanted to get in first?"<br/><br/>She shook her head, finally pulling herself up to a sitting position. She leaned over the side of the bed to pull their alarm clock to her. It read: <b>7:54</b>. Honestly, they were lucky to have Ray's internal clock. She was a light sleeper, which meant she'd wake if she felt a disruption, but would sleep for hours if uninterrupted. As a teenager, she'd sleep till noon on Saturdays. Of course, that was after staying up until late into the night on Friday nights. With that knowledge in mind, she went to set an alarm for 7:30 for the future mornings while they were here.<br/><br/>"No thanks," She messed with the alarm clock, "I'll go make sure everyone else is awake and then I'll get in. Do you want coffee? I know <em>your dad</em> will want some."<br/><br/>"I'm good. I'm more of a tea guy, but I can make it when I go downstairs." Ray walked to his side of the dresser and rummaged through the drawers for clothes.<br/><br/>Sara drug herself from the bed and made toward the door, calling over her shoulder, "Enjoy the shower." Followed by a pointed warning, "Don't use all of the hot water." Because she knew that he totally did all the time back on the ship.<br/><br/>Sara used her fingers to lightly comb out the tiny knots in her hair that sleeping had brought and made a pit stop in the bathroom across the hall. She looked at herself in the mirror, in a gray and soft yellow colored bathroom, and wondered how she'd ever found herself in such a bizarre situation. In a way, the house looked like any one on her street that she'd grown up in. But the reality that they were in some terrorist facility in Kaznia really woke her up for the morning. She was here on a business trip, not to be lulled into some false sense of security by the American familiarity she saw around her.<br/><br/>After peeing and washing her hands with lots of soap, Sara found herself outside of Juliette's door, eye-to-eye with the '<b>Clarke</b>' nameplate. She knocked once then pushed her way into the room to find what she thought to be the sleepiest teenager she ever saw, including herself. She looked to be in such deep sleep that Sara would've checked her breathing for signs of life if she hadn't noticed the minute, rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. Sara smiled as she opened the door all the way, fully entering the room, and getting close enough to the girl to see the line of drool falling from her mouth to a pool on the pillow below. The woman lightly rapped on the door, as opposed to get too close to her too fast. "Bean," She called, "Good morning." The girl didn't move a muscle. "You don't have to get up yet, but we're all starting to get ready." Sara told her.<br/><br/>She would've thought the girl was still completely unconscious to the world, if not for the small groan that left Juliette's mouth and the annoyed movement the girl does in her bed to turn away from Sara.<br/><br/>"Okay. I'll check on you in a bit." She laughed. Of course she'd get stuck with a grumpy teen, it was karma punishing her for being the <em>exact</em> same way at her age.<br/><br/>Sara cracked the door after she left and ventured downstairs. The space looked bigger than it had last night, the light from the windows pouring in to every angle of the downstairs house. Sara wasn't really sure why they had overhead lights with all this natural light around. She shuffled to the kitchen and searched the cabinets several times before she'd assembled all of the ingredients needed for coffee and tea. She put a pot on and a kettle to boil for Ray, then stalked to the front windows to investigate.<br/><br/>The first thing she noticed was that they were at the end of a cul-de-sac, shockingly enough. All the houses that she could see closely resembled their own, but were not exact matches with small variations of coloring and layout. She wondered vaguely if they hall had similar interiors. And, beyond that, wondered of the people that occupied those homes. She couldn't help but imagine dark hooded figures lurking in cold, light-less caves within the houses.<br/><br/>"Good morning." Said a voice behind her.<br/><br/>Spooked, Sara grabbed the closest thing to her that could function as a weapon, which happened to be a decorative vase between the windows she'd been staring out of. She gripped the item tightly with both hands and made to toss it at whoever was behind her, when--the second before she released the vase--she identified the speaker. Martin. She lowered the vase as she sighed in relief, while Martin was just registering how much danger he'd just been in. He looked at her plainly, still in the same robe he'd been seen wearing last night, "I take it you're a coffee person?" Martin waved her over to the kitchen, where a fresh pot of cup sat hot it's maker.<br/><br/>"Sorry, John. I just didn't expect you to be up already." Sara apologized as she grabbed a mug from the far right cabinet and began to pour herself a cup of coffee.<br/><br/>"It's totally alright, dear." Martin reclaimed his seat, sipping at his own mug, "I imagine we're all a little extra jumpy. With the new move and all." Sara only grunted in agreement.<br/><br/>After scanning the counter space, which was mostly bare, Sara decided asking would be faster than hunting down her ingredients for her coffee. "Do you know if there's any sugar and milk here?"<br/><br/>"Mhm." Martin nodded, swallowing a warm gulp, "Sugar is in there." He pointed to a cabinet beside the refrigerator. "And there's two percent on the top shelf of the fridge."<br/><br/>"Thanks." Sara set down her mug to start collecting her sugar and coffee. "Did you sleep okay last night?" She asked, pulling the sugar from the cabinet and placing it back beside her mug.<br/><br/>"I did. My bed is very comfortable..." He answered, but Sara could tell there was something else lingering on the tip of his tongue. When he hadn't sounded finished with his reply, she pulled the milk from the fridge and turned to look at him directly. "I got up once during the night. To go to the bathroom." He tugged at his sleeves. Sara began to mix her ingredients into her coffee, curious to what Martin was saying. "The girl was whimpering, I could hear it through the walls. It wasn't very loud, but she sounded like she was in a lot of pain. So I went to check on her and she was still asleep, in her bed. But she appeared to be <em>very</em> sweaty. As in, even her blankets looked damp."<br/><br/>"So what?" Sara leaned against the counter, cradling her mug. "The girl's a sweaty sleeper. Probably having a nightmare." God knows how many times Sara had woken up in the middle of the night, sweaty from her haunted dreams. She didn't doubt that the girl would be plagued by them too, after what she'd been through.<br/><br/>"I just thought it was strange, was all. Maybe we should make sure the AC is cool enough in her room, in the future." The Professor suggested.<br/><br/>Sara nodded. She'll check it out tonight. Make sure the girl's fan is on and everything so at least she'd be more comfortable. Remind her <em>extra</em> well that she could come wake Sara up if she needed. "Have you showered yet?" Sara changed the subject. "Ray's in our's now." Speaking of Ray, she remembered his tea. She peaked into a few of the lower cabinets to find a kettle and began to fill it with water for him.<br/><br/>"Not yet. I was going to finish my cup, then get in." Martin explained.<br/><br/>"Okay," Sara shrugged. "The girl will need to shower too, especially if she had a sweaty night. And I need one. But maybe after we're ready, we can meet down here for a family meeting before people show up?"<br/><br/>"I think that's a great idea." Martin said, then lifted his mug to his mouth to take a final giant gulp. "I''m going to start getting ready, but I'll be quick in the shower." He stood and pushed the chair under the island counter. "Do you need me to get the girl up?"<br/><br/>"Nah, I'll get her up in a bit. Poor thing's probably exhausted. I tried to get her up a second ago, and all I got was a angsty grunt, so I'm sure she'll be difficult." Sara laughed.<br/><br/>Martin joined her. "Well, let me know if you need any <em>grand-paternal</em> discipline to back you up." He joked, patting her shoulder with fondness as he passed behind her. With a sudden pang of guilt, he remembered his unanswered tests that Gideon was running. He wondered what the results were.<br/><br/>"Okay, <em>Pops</em>. I'll let you know." Sara said into her coffee mug, watching the older man ascend up the stairs. The next few minutes, Sara enjoyed the peace of the morning, even if it was a morning stuck in such an unfamiliar place. It was something she needed each morning, a couple minutes to center herself. It was an unfortunate setback of time travel that she couldn't feel the freshness of a morning in the temporal zone. So she enjoyed it while she had it.<br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/>Martin glanced at his watch--the watch he'd found on his dresser in a neat black box--and noted the time. Brunch would start before too long, and they'd agreed on a family meeting before other people showed up. So he looked himself over in the mirror, impressed with the fit of his khakis and blue button-up, and deemed himself ready. He exited his room, closing the door behind him. He was about to take the first step down the step when he noticed Juliette was still sitting on her bed, and retracted his foot to flat ground. He stepped towards her door, for a better look, and observed the girl frown as she closely inspected her sheets.<br/><br/>Martin knocked, as to alert her of his presence, but she was too focused to be startled. "Are they still damp?"<br/><br/>Juliette's face snapped up to look at him, mouth agape and confused eyes. "Still?"<br/><br/>The man took a step into her room. "I got up to used the restroom last night. I heard you whimpering in here, so I came to check on you. Every inch of you that I could see was covered in dense sweat. Your sheets too."<br/><br/>"Oh." She looked back down to the cloth, pressing it between her fingers to feel the moisture. "Sorry." She looked back up at him, genuine regret in her expression.<br/><br/>The man shook his head. "No need to be sorry. At all." When he felt the words sink in for a moment, he spoke again. "We're going to have a family meeting downstairs, are you ready?"<br/><br/>"Oh, yep!" She snapped herself out of the spacey confusion, and popped up from the bed. The pickings were slim in the closet, especially since most of them were too big on her. But with Sara's help, they'd been able to find a cute romper that was light blue and floral that fit <em>and</em> that she liked. Martin saw that her hair was still damp, probably from the shower, but noticed the two distinctly <em>Sara</em>-styled braids.<br/><br/>Martin pushed the door more open for her to lead them from the room. "You look very lovely this morning, Clarke." He said as she passed.<br/><br/>She unexpectedly paused in her step to look intensely at his face, searching for genuineness. Apparently judging the man favorably, a deep blush appeared on her tanned skin. "Thanks, Grampa." She said so naturally, that the man was surprised and impressed as he followed her down the stairs.<br/><br/>When they got to the kitchen, Ray and Sara were standing around the island, chatting. They both looked clean and tidy, their clothes wrinkle-free and hair neatly placed. Ray was finishing up the last of his tea when he greeted the two. "Good morning!" He said happily. They'd been discussing how it was probably safe to make a game plan here, even though they're being recorded, as it would be something expected of their characters in the confines of their own home. Ray was happy for some sense of normalcy in the house, the ability to talk to his teammates somewhat candidly.<br/><br/>"Good morning." Martin replied, equally as cheery. Juliette just rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Family meeting, officially in session." He announced.<br/><br/>"So." Sara began, leaning against the granite island with both palms down on counter. A stance meaning business. "Let's get our story straight. We can't slip up, or we'll be out of here." And they'd have to rely on Beta team to finish the mission alone.<br/><br/>"Well, let's think of the things people might ask us." Ray suggested.<br/><br/>"Probably where we moved from." Martin offered.<br/><br/>Juliette threw out, "Why we moved."<br/><br/>"What other family we left behind, maybe." Sara added.<br/><br/>Martin thought a beat before saying, "What we all do for a living."<br/><br/>"What year Clarke is in at school." Ray gave.<br/><br/>"Right, yeah." Sara sighed. "Well, luckily this is just meant to be a meet-and-greet and we hopefully won't have to stay in one conversation for long. So let's read the room for what kind of vibe this place has. Like, it's a training facility disguised as an American town. We probably won't be expected to talk about the <em>terrorist</em> stuff except for during training, but stick to your file as close as possible if someone does ask."<br/><br/>"And we should stay in pairs, to have someone to help us out." Martin suggested, remembering their discussion from last night.<br/><br/>"Em and I should stay together." Ray said. After everyone got over the strangeness of a pet-name, each member nodded in agreement. It was needed that the husband and wife stayed together, or it would look like their marriage was unhappy, therefore calling extra attention to themselves.<br/><br/>"Guess I'm stuck with Grandpa." Juliette shot him a playful grin.<br/><br/>"Just use your best judgement if people ask you about school. You're 15, that's probably tenth grade." Sara told her. "Say you have a summer birthday if they ask how you haven't turned 16 yet." Sara wasn't totally convinced that she passed as 15, but was <em>sure</em> the girl wouldn't pass as 16 yet. Upon reflection, she did look older than when Sara had first found her. The girl was definitely older than 12 or 13, but still looked a little slight for 15. The driver man's comment on the girl's age was certainly understandable.<br/><br/>"And I'll be there to help you out." Martin volunteered. "We'll just remember any facts you give, if anyone asks, and we'll write them down later so you don't contradict yourself." Juliette nodded, eyebrows furrowed at trying to formulate a mental backstory for a kid that she knew nothing about. Someone less complicated. A girl in a spy family somehow felt more normal than her current situation.<br/><br/>"As for where and why we moved?" Sara threw out, wanting collaboration on the subject.<br/><br/>Martin asked, "It could be from anywhere in the world, right?"<br/><br/>"Let's just say we moved around a lot. Have lived in a lot of different places." Ray theorized. "That way we have a way to explain something we might say later. And it's technically not false."<br/><br/>"Good idea." Sara agreed. "I like that."<br/><br/>"But what jobs would allow us to have moved around so much?" Ray asked. They didn't think that people would ask them about their <em>secret</em> lives of crime that they'd practice in training as that didn't fit in with the suburban image, but he'd like to be prepared to explain his knowledge if need be.<br/><br/>"John was an independent contractor for something with piloting." Sara assigned, knowing that Martin's dad was in the piloting business and he'd probably remember enough lingo to fudge his way through. She then looked to Ray, "You went to school to follow in Daddy's footsteps. Got a degree, started working with the old man. On one of your jobs, you met me."<br/><br/>"In Paris." Juliette added.<br/><br/>Sara stalled, "What?"<br/> <br/>"Come on, please?" Juliette pleaded. Sara was completely vulnerable to the girl's puppy-dog eyes. "You guys met in Paris."<br/><br/>"Fine," Sara laughed, "We met in Paris. I quit my job there as a dancer to marry you. We moved around a lot for your jobs, but wanted to settle down for Clarke, since she wanted to stay at one school."<br/><br/>The others nodded in agreement. "Do we have any more family?" Ray asked.<br/><br/>"It would probably be easiest to say no. My wife died years ago. Aaron was an only child, as is Clarke. Emily hasn't spoken to her family since she ran off with Aaron. Clean breaks." Martin practiced everyone's names so they'd be familiar coming off his tongue during conversation.<br/><br/>"Sounds good. Is everyone clear?" Sara made eye contact with each team member. "Remember, be friendly and attentive. But we're <em>not</em> trying to draw attention to ourselves." Her last statement feeling contradictory to everything the Legends have ever done. "Clarke, can you help be set up napkins and stuff around the room?" She asked, ending the meeting while shooting Ray a meaningful look.<br/><br/>Once he was sure the girls were out of ear shot placing napkins on the coffee table, Ray scooted towards Martin at the edge of the island counter. "Sara and I were talking last night, about how rough a position we are with Clarke. We were hoping you'd help us scout out one of the kids that we meet today to get her buddy-buddy with for school tomorrow."<br/><br/>"Ahh, good idea, son." Martin played along. "Make sure she pairs up with someone that'll be a good match for her. An ally at school." He thought for a moment. "I'm in."<br/><br/>The first knock on the door echoed throughout the house just a few moments later, just as the girls finished placing enough napkins on the coffee table for at least a hundred people. They really had no clue what was going on with the brunch; if was a big deal or not, how many people they'd have to chat with. But in that moment, as every member of the house stood up straight and looked around at each other, they knew they'd have no choice but to figure it out.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter Fourteen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Legends stared at the door. They'd all heard the knock, but none of them made a move towards the door. They'd felt safe within the walls of the house, even if temporarily, and they weren't quite ready to give that up. Not that it was even very <em>safe</em>, mostly just... Enclosed. They only needed to focus on themselves and stray away from blowing their covers as impostors. But they knew the moment they opened that door, the house wasn't <em>remotely</em> safe anymore. The team reveled in their last moments alone together.<br/><br/>Martin knew he had to be the one to step up. He had to open the door, invite risk into the home--the home they'd be calling <em>their's</em>--because he's the responsible one. Sara had trusted him in this role, and he wouldn't let the team down. Which meant biting the bullet. He stood up straighter, adjusted his collar, and strutted to the door. He gripped it, taking a deep breath, and pulled himself together. They could do this. Martin swung the door open confidently and plastered a bright smile on his face. "Good morning!"<br/><br/>The door revealed the man from the van last night, Michael, with a clean-cut, 30-something woman on his arm. "Good morning, John. This is my wife, Nicky." The woman gave a small smile but didn't speak, holding a covered pan in both hands and standing eerily still. "I hope you don't mind us showing up a few minutes early, we just wanted to make sure you all got settled in alright last night."<br/><br/>"No problem at all." The Professor assured him, "Welcome, please come in."<br/><br/>"Thank you." Michael stepped through the offered opening and into the home. "Lovely place you have here." He noted, before suddenly remembering. "We brought some biscuits, for the brunch." He waved towards his wife.<br/><br/>"We weren't sure if there were any dietary restrictions, but figured most people could eat gluten." The wife provided meekly.<br/><br/>Sara approached, "Here, I can take those." She took the dish from the woman and lead her to the kitchen, away from the men chatting in the doorway.<br/><br/>When the women reached the island counter, Sara set the pan down while the woman made towards the cabinets. "What a lovely family you have." She admired Ray and Juliette.<br/><br/>"Thank you, that's so kind." Sara tucked in the covering on the pan. She pointed to Ray, "That's my husband, Aaron. And our daughter, Clarke."<br/><br/>The woman was clearly very familiar with the layout of the kitchen and walked straight towards a drawer that housed serving spoons and silverware. "I'm Nicky, Michael's wife." She picked up a large pair of tongs for the biscuits, but paused at the outreached hand that Ray offered. <br/><br/>"Very nice to meet you." He shook after she accepted the contact.<br/><br/>Instead of returning pleasantries, she retracted her hand and gave a curt smile. Clearly uncomfortable but trying to hide it, she made a bee line back to her pan and tucked the tongs under the tin foil covering. "So," She sighed, trying to move the conversation along, "How are you finding the house? Are you settling in alright?"<br/><br/>Sara <em>hated</em> small talk. She didn't really understand the need for it, why not just get to the point or not talk about anything? It just didn't seem necessary. Sara understood chatting about one's day or some issue they were struggling with--even if it was mundane--but would never entertain a dull conversation of pleasantry. Normally. Unfortunately, this was not a normal situation. Sara would have to suck up her <em>hatred</em> to play her part in this mission, her role. Sara hated small talk, but Emily wouldn't.<br/><br/>"It's great!" Sara thought she sounded pretty convincing, "Everything looks so nice and well made."<br/><br/>"I'm sure we'll be very comfortable here." Ray stepped closer to Sara, unconsciously trying to show her support and that he'd stand up for her.<br/><br/>"I'm sure you will be." Nicky gave a tight-lipped smile that the Legends didn't really know what to make of. She turned to Juliette, and the girl felt her heart spike. They had no idea, no preparation or advice, on how the people here would play this game of playing American suburban. The Legends had consolidated their story in the case of deep question or investigation into their stories, but they weren't sure at all how closely the town's residents would question them. "What did you think of your room?" She asked sweetly, probably being the only genuine-sounding words the woman had spoken yet.<br/><br/>Juliette pulled a true smile across her lips at the memory of her <em>very</em> <em>own</em> <em>space</em>, right up the stairs. "I love it." She gushed. "The colors are all so great, but I especially love the light pink. And the bed is so soft."<br/><br/>Nicky chuckled at the girl's adoration. "I'm glad you like it." She leaned against the counter, propped up on her elbows to be eye level with the girl. "When I heard a fifteen year old girl was coming, the colors just sort of popped into my head."<br/><br/>"You designed the room?" Juliette clarified, innocent eyes wide. Sara and Ray watched the interaction from across the island, strangely intrigued by the shift in the woman's demeanor and how it was so compatible with Juliette. And, suddenly, they were a lot less worried about the girl being here. Obviously, <em>so</em> terrified for her and horrified that they'd brought her somewhere with so much latent danger and risk. But not so worried for her socially. The girl clearly had lots to learn--meaning they had lots to teach her--but not once since they found her had they had a difficult time with her. Despite her damage (which, to some degree, they all had), Juliette had been very communicative and expressive with them. They could always read the girl, tell exactly what state of mind she was in. And she'd even started to discuss her trauma and acknowledge how her past has affected her, which is honestly better than what most of the Legends could say for themselves.<br/><br/>"I did." Nicky gloated, before a sad expression reappeared in her eyes. "I really enjoy designing kids' rooms. They're way more interesting than boring adult bedrooms. I don't get to do them very often though."<br/><br/>Sara, having mostly observed the conversation from a few feet's distance, was about to step in and push the topic with her when the doorbell rang. She made eye contact with Martin, who was closest to the door with Michael, and exchanged several silent messages before announcing, "I'll get it. Ray, won't you join me?" She took his hand, trying to play the role of loving wife. She dragged him to the door before peaking back over his shoulder, to make sure Martin was back with Juliette. He was. The older man chanced a quick nod in her direction, accepting his post with the girl. Sara turned back to the door.<br/><br/>Ray grabbed the knob before she was really prepared, and quickly opened the door. "Hello. Good morning." He wished before they'd even really gotten a glance at who was on their doorstep. It was a white man and an African-American woman, and a teenaged boy--17, tops--who had mocha skin and deep eyes that both Ray and Sara both individually noted as very charming. Sara disliked the kid almost immediately, for the threat he posed to Juliette or any other teenaged girl as a potential heart throb.<br/><br/>"Hi! We're your neighbors, down the street." The woman introduced, pointing behind them to a pastel green house on the left side of the street. "The Andersons."<br/><br/>"Hi, I'm Emily Bristow, and this is my husband, Aaron." They all exchanged handshakes. "It's nice to meet you, would you come in?"<br/><br/>"Thank you." The man led the family through the threshold. "I'm Albert, and my wife, Carla, and our son, Daniel."<br/><br/>"Good morning, Sir. Ma'am." Daniel nodded to each adult. "We brought fruit from the market. Do you have a bowl that we could serve it in?" He asked politely.<br/><br/>Sara couldn't resist narrowing her eyes at him, trying to decide if he could really be <em>that</em> nice or if it was some sort of ploy. He was well-dressed, like his parents. He stood up straight, confidently, as if he had been reminded often to keep good posture. Sara could tell the boy was fighting to keep his face void of expression, favoring a very serious look that seemed out of place on his young features. In total, he seemed unnaturally guarded for his early age, a trait present in his parents, though it was worn with time in them. She'd keep an eye on him around Juliette, regardless. After the thought passed through her mind, she was shocked at herself. Since when did she start feeling so protective over the girl?<br/><br/>Ray responded in Sara's absence. "Yes, of course. My father, John, and my daughter are in the kitchen and they can help you out with that."<br/><br/>"Thank you." The kid stepped past them, leaving them both mildly confused to what <em>his </em>deal would be.<br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/>Ten minutes later, the downstairs area was teeming with people. It seemed as though they were all fairly prompt, and brought so many food items that they'd overflowed from the island and been forced to spread out some on the regular kitchen counter top. Sara and Ray had stood near the door while people were arriving, and had managed to at least primarily introduce the family to everyone as they entered. After several minutes of no new guests, the couple decided that everyone who intended on coming was here and they could start breakfast. Nicky helped them uncover the dishes and place serving tools with each, while Michael began sending people to grab a plate.<br/><br/>It was all fairly casual. The family was soon able to grab a plate themselves and were sent by Michael to go mingle around their neighbors. They stayed in their pairs, as they'd discussed before, and were surprised to find out that their neighbors weren't as pushy as they'd feared they would be. For the most part, they asked well-rehearsed questions about how the family liked their house and were settling in. Only a few people--barely enough to count on one hand--inquired any deeper than the events of yesterday, and that was to ask about the occupations of the adults. It was clear that their neighbors had been trained to be inquisitive of the new residents, pulling enough information to casually hold a surface-level conversation, but to not be nosy about their pasts. Although the Legends found the behavior suspicious, they were appreciative for it in this moment.<br/><br/>Another surprise that the Legends discovered was that there were plenty of kids in the town. The people at the brunch were mostly residents of Salem street, one of eleven streets used as subdivisions to divide the small town, as the entire town would be too large for one house to host and an intimate gathering to meet the neighbors was what the brunch was about. But even in the fifty people in their house, Martin counted seven people that seemed to be school-aged. It made him feel less crazy for bringing Juliette along. But the kids that he'd met--which was probably only five of them so far--they all were <em>so</em>... Mature. They'd all acted like young adults instead of teenagers, with neatly-pressed clothing and strict manners. It was nice for him to see such well behaved youth, but something about it was unnerving. They all seemed like they knew <em>too</em> much. Like privileged kids with rich parents, but somehow with experience and knowledge to back up that prestige. He wasn't sure if <em>innocent</em> Juliette would fit in, but had to constantly remind himself that she, too, had seen more than her years and is <em>very </em>perceptive and a fast learner.<br/><br/>The sixth kid Martin and his young partner had ran into at the brunch was the one they'd had the longest conversation with. It was a girl, about fifteen, accompanied by her parents. "Hello, hi, good morning!" The mother enthusiastically greeted, reaching out and grasping Juliette's unextended hand first, before moving to shake the older man's hand. "We're the Bishops. I'm Mary, and that's Dylan and our daughter, Laura. Welcome to the neighborhood."<br/><br/>"It's very nice to meet you. You have a lovely family." Martin replied with a polite smile. "I'm John and this is my granddaughter, Clarke."<br/><br/>"Clarke, what a pretty name." The woman smiled down at the girl, and Juliette could return her own. She immediately liked the woman, and found her enthusiasm infectious. "Like Lewis and Clark?"<br/><br/>Juliette was about to ask who those people were when Martin quickly spoke, "I'm sure her parents had something like that in mind when they named her." He laughed pleasantly.<br/><br/>Mary turned back to the girl, "So what year will you be in at Academy? I hope you're not too nervous for your first day. It's really not too scary, once you get the hang of it." Juliette tried to absorb the woman's advice, surprised that she'd cared enough to ask about her year in school. No one else had.<br/><br/>"<em>Mom</em>," Laura interrupted warningly, "Go easy. They've only <em>just</em> arrived here." Then Laura placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder, her beautifully dark skin warming Juliette's clammy skin. "Come on, lets leave the adults to their <em>boring</em> chatting."<br/><br/>She'd already started to guide Juliette away when the girl's mother called after her, "See you in a few!"<br/><br/>Juliette sent a wary gaze to Martin, unsure, but allowed herself to be separated upon Martin's encouraging nod. He was sure he could keep an eye on her from across the room, and maybe this Laura girl would be a good match to try to pair Juliette up with for school like Sara and Ray wanted. Her parents definitely seemed nice enough, so nice that it undoubtedly rubbed off on their kid for Laura to be so considerate and kind towards Juliette. So Martin settled on watching the pair chat from afar, ready for any red flags that would call for intervention, and he'd ask Juliette how it went and what they spoke about later.<br/><br/>On the other side of the room, where the young pair had drifted far from their parents, Laura made herself comfortable on one of the love-seats and Juliette was attempting to copy her. Not that she was sure she'd ever be able to feel comfortable here. Or anywhere other than her bunk in the Waverider, for that matter. "So, what year will you be in?" Laura leaned against her knees, eagerly awaiting her answer.<br/><br/>"I'll be in year 10." Juliette managed to answer simply, stopping herself from adding an unsure "I think" at the end that would cause suspicion.<br/><br/>"Cool! That's what year I'm in!" Laura sounded genuinely excited, much like her mother's greeting just a minute before. "That means we'll see each other a lot at school. Well, depending. Have you decided on your specialty?"<br/><br/>Juliette mentally kicked herself. She hadn't even thought of <em>looking</em> for her instruction booklet, and certainly hadn't found time to review it yet. She'd wished she'd at least peaked in it so she could know what the other girl was talking about. "Uh... No. Not yet."<br/><br/>"That's okay." Laura casually leaned back. "You have until tomorrow morning to choose."<br/><br/>The shorter girl hesitated, wondering if this was a bad idea to ask, "Do you... have any recommendations?"<br/><br/>Laura looked at her curiously for only a beat before answering, "Well, you can do an aptitude test instead, but then you won't have any choice of what you do, they'll just place you in the specialty for whatever you score highest on. Normally kids choose whatever they have a background in. There's protection and enforcement, culture and assimilation, explosive weapons, non-explosive weapons, counterintelligence and resistance, cyber-works, and leadership..." She counted on each finger, thinking, "Yeah, I think that's all seven. But don't even worry about leadership because it's really exclusive to get in."<br/><br/>The girl noted the advice. "Which one do you do?" She tried to sound casual, but found herself desperately clinging to the lifeline Laura was throwing to her. Laura was helping her--couldn't even possibly know how much--and Juliette wasn't ready to give that up yet. It helped that Laura seemed happy to help.<br/><br/>"I'm a CASS gal myself, which is culture and assimilation, and I love it. I've always had a knack for languages and art, which I funnel into disguises." Laura shared, nonchalant, but Juliette was intrigued, vaguely remembering that Clarke also liked art. "But we have school with all the normal subjects most of the day--government and politics, world history, psychology, all of that--and do our specialties every afternoon at 2. Then our night block is extracurriculars, and how long those are depend on what you do." Laura gasped, turning to the other girl excitedly, "The spring theater show auditions on Tuesday, you should join it with me!"<br/><br/>Flattered, Juliette blushed but shook her head. "I don't know anything about theater."<br/><br/>"That's okay!" Laura assured. "Its a very small production usually, so you have to audition but some people get assigned as stagehands to help with sets and stuff. I've done it before, it's really fun, I promise! <em>Please </em>do it with me?"<br/><br/>Juliette was definitely interested, but not totally certain. Laura barely knew Juliette, and surely the other girl had other friends that would do it with her. So why was it so important for her to convince Juliette to do the show with her. "I'm not sure. I'm sure you have plenty of friends that will audition with you, though." Juliette suggested subtly.<br/><br/>"You know, Clarke." The girl crossed her arms, "Around here, I'm considered quite a good judge of character." Suddenly, Juliette felt so exposed, almost naked. The way the girl across from her was scrutinizing her, it felt like the girl could read her mind or see everything's that ever happened to her. "And I <em>know</em> your character. You're different than the people around here." Juliette's eyes were about to pop out of her head with panic. She was ready to leap over to the girl to cover her mouth from saying anymore, and to beg her not to tell anyone that they didn't belong her. That <em>she</em> didn't belong here.<br/><br/>"The other kids around here... They're too... Serious. Judge-y. Ready at any moment to cut anyone down that stands in their path. They're selfish." Laura explained, "But I can tell you're not. You've got kind eyes." She said sincerely.<br/><br/>Juliette let out a breath of relief. Laura wouldn't be exposing her or her team any time soon. She smiled at the other girl, "Thank you." Her comments were heart-felt and were maybe the first nice thing anyone had ever said about a physical aspect of her. It felt good.<br/><br/>"You're welcome." Laura gave her a cheeky smile, then shoved in two chocolate croissants someone had brought.<br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/>On the other side of the room, near the office by the door where they had been meeting their guests for the past half hour, Ray and Sara had similarly almost found themselves in a sticky situation. "So, how did you two meet?" One of the women of the two couples they'd been chatting with asked.<br/><br/>"Well, like I said. I used to be a dancer, and went to Paris to study at a ballet school." Sara offered to answer this one, Ray had been carrying most of the conversation this time around with this group. "Aaron was in Paris on a job. And Americans are pretty rare in the city, so we eventually found our way to each other, and the rest was history." She slipped her hand into his and brought it up to her lips to peck a kiss on his knuckles, huge in comparison to her's, before she gave him then their audience a cheesy smile.<br/><br/>"Yeah, but <em>how</em> did you run into each other?" Another woman pushed for details, "Paris is a huge city."<br/><br/>Sara looked to Ray with a look conveying calm panic. Sara knew that she was excellent under pressure, in almost any situation. But, unfortunately, this was not an area where she had a ton of past experience to pull from. Her past serious relationships had been with a boy she'd grown up with and eventually betrayed her sister with, and the woman who had rescued her and brought her to an international league of killers. Somehow, Sara didn't think any of those scenarios would fit in well here, with their stories. Briefly, the woman thought to her less serious hookups, and ruled those out too due to their references of time and/or inter-dimensional travel.<br/><br/>"It's okay, sweetheart. I'll tell the story." Ray jumped in, and Sara was immediately grateful she was paired with such a great partner. "She doesn't like to embarrass me, but it's okay because it allowed us to meet." He explained easily to their audience, who laughed good naturedly. "Now, I'm not sure if you've ever been to France. But they don't seem to be huge fans of Americans there. But I had read of this really amazing restaurant and went there for dinner one night. The said they were 'very busy' and couldn't seat me, but half of their tables were empty! So I started to <em>calmly</em> argue with the host, when they sent these two <em>huge</em> men to remove me. And I thought I was <em>toast</em>." Ray laughed, "When this beautiful woman left the restaurant. I'm pretty sure she was leaving from a date."<br/><br/>"I was." Sara added, for authenticity, while wrapping herself around the man's arm.<br/><br/>"And she started rapid-fire yelling in French at the host and his bouncers for trying to bully a poor tourist." Ray looked fondly to Sara. "I asked her to dinner right then."<br/><br/>Sara interjected again, "At a <em>different</em> restaurant."<br/><br/>"The next day," Ray continued. "For <em>some</em> reason she said yes. And I've seen her every day since."<br/><br/>"My parents thought I was crazy. It was like their worst nightmare, me falling in love in Paris and getting married so quickly. The only saving grace was that he was American too." Sara explained, careful not to go over-board but knowing that they were really working the crowd.<br/><br/>"That was lucky for me." Ray told her, "I wouldn't want to upset <em>your</em> dad." They both laughed together, mostly at the veracity of the statement. Ray would've known that her father was a cop, and had every right to fear Quentin's wrath.<br/><br/>"What did <em>your</em> father think of you two? Getting married, I mean." The husband on the left asked pointedly to Ray.<br/><br/>Ray was reminded to check up on the man, and after a quick sweep of the downstairs, found Martin eating from a small plate surrounded by several other adults close to his age. Ray was momentarily surprised that there would be so many <em>experienced</em> people in the business. "He was thrilled. Him and Em get along really well, perhaps better than I do with him." He admitted with fake-meekness.<br/><br/>"What do you think about living with your father-in-law?" A woman asked Sara directly.<br/><br/>Sara wasn't sure what kind of fake opinion she was supposed to have in this situation, but decided a negative stance wouldn't do. "It's nice. He's very respectful of our space, and kind to me. He helps out with Clarke a good bit, them two are very close."<br/><br/>"That's so sweet." A woman swooned. "It's so important for a girl to be able to have that kind of relationship with her grandfather." Both Ray and Sara nodded along, unsure of anything else to comment, before the conversation was shifted to some other family gossip in the neighborhood. Both Legends let out a breath of relief.<br/><br/>Soon after, Michael was loudly calling attention to himself from the corner closest to Martin. "Hello! Can I have your attention for a moment, everyone?" His wife stood slightly behind him and forced a smile. "Thanks everyone for coming out today to meet our new neighbors, the Bristows. I'm sure you all made them feel very welcomed." Even though they hadn't been here long, the Legends pieced together that Michael was some sort of social director in the community, who expected to be impressed and obeyed. "And, of course, thanks to our gracious hosts, the Bristows, for having us this fine morning. Welcome to the neighborhood!" As their neighbors politely applauded the man as if on cue, the Legends found eye contact with each other and wondered what, exactly, they had gotten themselves in to.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter Fifteen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Despite the temperate breeze and warm sunshine that day, the Legends found themselves wanting to be almost anywhere but where they were. They'd been following the Andersons on their tour of the town for the better part of an hour and had run out of ideas for small talk. Basic pleasantries and further introductions had been completed before leaving the Legends' street, so they'd been <em>forced</em> to grab at more remedial topics for chit-chat for so long that the team was coming to the end of their sense of decorum as they slowly approached Main Street.<br/><br/>They'd drifted into natural divisions along the sidewalk. Martin and Ray talked quite animatedly with Albert Anderson about the infrastructure of the town, and how although there were clear roads, hardly anyone had driven past them and everyone seemed to walk everywhere. It was better for their carbon footprint that way. Sara forced dull platitudes through a boring conversation of the town's (limited) dining options with Carla Anderson, while subtly keeping an eye behind her to where Juliette trailed with the Anderson boy.<br/><br/>Juliette, on the other hand, did not feel excitement or boredom. She felt nervous, like she was being tested again, but she wasn't even sure of who was judging her this time. "So, uh..." The girl knew she couldn't get away with walking silently behind the adults forever, she had to say something. "What do you think of the Academy?"<br/><br/>The boy thought about his answer for a moment. "I like it there." He concluded finally. "I feel like I'm made better by being there. There's so much to learn." Though he seemed to feel strongly in his words, he immediately noticed the unsure look that passed across the girl's face. "But I didn't always feel that way, it's alright if it takes you some time to feel comfortable there." He flatly assured her.<br/><br/>Though Juliette was sure he meant the comment to be comforted, she felt more uneasy. Time? She didn't necessarily <em>want</em> to get comfortable here. This place was unsafe. This was going to be an uncomfortable several weeks. But his comment had sparked new means of conversation, "How old were you when you came here?"<br/><br/>"We don't really ask questions like those here." Daniel scolded in a harsh, hushed tone. It was loud enough to catch Sara's ear though, and she was about to jump in to assist the girl when Mrs. Anderson required yet again a response in her own conversation. The boy observed how his sharp tone inspired Juliette's nervous fingers to touch at her wrists, and genuinely felt sorry for her. Daniel, who had just recently been praised for his aptitude for reading others, recognized assurance would not be helpful for the girl. Although he'd felt happy and a sense of belonging in a community of kids like himself, he still vividly remembered how disorienting everything was when he first got here.<br/><br/>"It was two years ago, when I moved here. I was fourteen. I was terrified." Okay so 'terrified' was a <em>slight</em> exaggeration, but by the look of relief on the girl's face, Daniel knew he'd said the right thing.<br/><br/>Sara, the silent eavesdropper, agreed.<br/><br/>"...One of three bars in town." Sara zoned back in <em>right</em> on time to her own conversation with Carla Anderson.<br/><br/>"There are <em>three</em>?" Sara asked. She was surprised there'd even be one.<br/><br/>"Yep," Carla nodded to a darker colored brick facade on a corner just off of the Main street just ahead, "This is the Pub. The Sports Bar is down the street, and there's a Speakeasy in the Southeast."<br/><br/>That caught Martin's attention too, "A Speakeasy?" He turned around slightly, "That sounds intriguing."<br/><br/>"I'll take you by there soon," Albert laughed from beside Martin, "You'd like it there. Lots of the Leadership guys hang out there."<br/><br/>Sara internally gagged. That sounded like the opposite kind of bar than where she would like to visit.<br/><br/>"Which brings us to Main Street, the highlight of our tour and the main hub of the town." Albert stopped and turned to face the group. "Like I mentioned before, the town is set up to be a large compass. Each direction like west, and south, house each of the different specializations in our community, with the Counter-intelligence and Leadership tracks being housed in our Capitol building." He pointed out the biggest building around, which looked like a smaller-scale of a capitol building you'd find in any of the States. "Then each intermediate direction houses a residential district. You live off of Salem street, which is in the northeast." Albert pointed to the sign of the street they'd just been walking down, labeled 'Northeast St'.<br/><br/>"And where is the Academy?" Ray asked, hoping it'd be near one of their specializations.<br/><br/>"The Academy is near the west," Carla supplied, "Which is where the Explosive and Non-Explosive Weapons Divisions are."<br/><br/>Sara was grateful, she'd be close to the school. In case of emergency. She's reluctant to show, though, how relieved she felt. She changed the subject. "So, what's there to do for fun around here?"</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Turns out, unsurprisingly, that the citizens of Dark Valley had a very different idea of 'fun' than the Legends. Fun for the residents mostly took form of mandated workout regimens and the occasional family outing to the park on a nice day. They were, however, let in on a not-so-secret 'secret' underground fight club that took place bi-weekly in the basement of the Speakeasy across town. It was the town's one and only collective activity that involved betting allowances and scoring out differences that they came across in their training programs. No one was <em>expected</em> to participate, but as it was, most families that desired integration into the community elected one member to participate.<br/><br/>"Who are we gonna send?" Martin asked after they had gotten home and collapsed on the couches.<br/><br/>"What do you mean? It's obvious." Ray relaxed into his seat, biting casually into an apple that had been leftover from earlier today. "Sara."<br/><br/>Normally, Sara would immediately agree. In any normal situation, she'd bet on herself in <em>any</em> fight. But this wasn't just any fight and this wasn't just any situation. "Everyone here is a certified badass." Sara shrugged. "I think we should wait and see what the deal is with the whole fight club thing." The point of the mission was to blend in, and--although she'd hate it--if letting one of the guys fight (and get their asses whooped, she knew) meant blending in, she'd play whatever role she'd need.<br/><br/>"You don't think we should part-take?" Ray clarified. It was unlike Sara to back out of a fight.<br/><br/>"Of course we should do it." She scoffed. "And I'd beat every one of their asses. We just gotta see what the deal is first. Like, what if its normally the leader of the group who fights?"<br/><br/>The teams' attentions turn to Martin, suspiciously sizing him and not feeling good about their conclusions. Martin immediately objected. "That'd be absolutely ridiculous." He sat up straighter. "A good leader knows their team's talents... And when to delegate." He deflected, adjusting his shirt.<br/><br/>"Alright, alright." Sara laughed, "Don't worry, old man. We wouldn't let you go out there and make a fool of us."<br/><br/>"I don't know, we've seen him when he was younger. I bet he still has some of his fight in 'em." Ray added, alluding to the young Dr. Martin they'd met in the 70's.<br/><br/>"Clarke?" The doctor abruptly shifted the focus to the girl. Both Sara and Ray expected to find the girl laughing along with them but were startled to see big, teary eyes. The girl had curled in on herself on the opposite side of the couch from Ray, and seemed equally as startled by her emotions. "Are you okay?" Martin's voice was soft and predictable.<br/><br/>"What am I gonna <em>do</em> tomorrow?" She asked herself, a haunted gaze fixed on the coffee table. "How am I supposed to act like a normal person?"<br/><br/>The girl finally glanced up, but the second she made eye contact with Sara, Sara wished she could look away. Again, she was harshly reminded how scary this must be for the young girl. To the rest of the team, it was like playing house. For her, everything was new and big and confusing. From what Sara had gathered, she hadn't grown up in a house and the girl made no mention of any family, or leaving the lab before at all. There's a good chance she'd never received any schooling before, and would feel completely lost in this already abnormal school situation. Sara's stomach filled with true, pure horror as she realized she'd never asked, "Can you... You can <em>read, </em>right?"<br/><br/>Juliette looked confused for a moment, a cute crinkle gathering in between her eyebrows as she gaped between the three adults in the room with her. Then, oddly enough, her face broke into a smile. Then a giggle escaped her lips, before turning into a few deep belly laughs. "Yes, I can <em>read</em>!" She watched relief flood the adults' faces before soberly explaining, "I've had a bit of... Lessons before. Things normal kids my age would know how to do: physics, advanced calculus, anatomy." She drained into a sad demeanor, so no one wanted to tell her that most kids her age (14? 15? How old <em>was</em> she?) would definitely not know those subjects. "But I don't have any <em>context</em> for them. It wouldn't even matter where we were." She meant <em>when</em>.<br/><br/>Ray, Sara, and Martin all glanced at each other. She was right. How could they give her a crash course on how to be a normal high school student building from nothing in one night? Martin once again felt guilty for dragging the girl along. Even if they did need her, they were wrong to put her in a situation that's causing her such duress. He began doubting and trying to find outs, when he stopped himself. The girl was personable and friendly and smart. She'd managed to make room for herself on this team, and they had already become quite protective of her. She needed to push herself and they needed to be there for support. "Listen... Listen, Clarke."<br/><br/>The girl took just a moment of hesitation at the name, but Martin waited until she could meet his eyes. "Listen, at this school... Everyone's gonna be faking it." He explained. "No one at your age, or our age for that matter, has it figured out. Everyone's just walking around doing their best. Everyone's just trying to fit in, but really they're just as nervous."<br/><br/>"I was such a nerd when I was fifteen." Ray added, "Liked we talked about the other day, at dinner? Remember?" The girl smiled, how could she forget? "I never felt like I really fit in. It's hard being that age. Everything's so confusing, for everybody. But just because they hide it better than you, doesn't mean they are better than you, or know any more than you. Okay?"<br/><br/>"Okay." The girl sniffled. She felt at least slightly comforted by the idea that all the kids might act tough, but are just as insecure as her. However, her concern was also of a practical nature. Practically, she wasn't sure what to do all day at a school.<br/><br/>As if reading her mind, Sara--ever the pragmatist--stepped in, "Alright, so here's what you're gonna do. I'mma walk you school where we'll meet the Director and get your classes figured out. Then you're gonna go to those classes and keep your mouth shut, got it?" Juliette nodded with wide-eyed attention. "Just write everything down. Observe. We'll pick it apart and help you strategize when you get home, got it?"<br/><br/>"What if someone asks me something I don't know?" The girl whined.<br/><br/>"Two options:" Sara held up two fingers. "First, you smile and laugh. Say you don't know if they push."<br/><br/>It sounded like admitting weakness, and Juliette wasn't sure she'd want to show her hand. "Or?"<br/><br/>"In true Team fashion: Guess. Wing it." Ray provided the girl with the Legends' most beloved truism.<br/><br/>"You're smart, kiddo." Martin relaxed back into the couch, "Trust yourself. Read your surroundings. You'll be alright."<br/><br/>"Okay." The girl gritted through her teeth. She certainly didn't trust herself, but the Legends have yet to lead her astray. Juliette looked to Sara, who gave her a reassuring nod.<br/><br/>"Listen, how about you go read your manual? Your <em>father</em> and I are going to take a walk, and then we'll be back to talk strategy for tomorrow? Sound good?" Sara saw affirmation in each member's nod.<br/><br/>"I'll be in the shower." Martin stood, announcing his plans, "Will anyone want any evening tea?" He saw Ray's smile before looking to the girl. "Or... maybe some hot chocolate?"<br/><br/>Each Legend was 100% sure Juliette had no clue what that was, but saw the girl light up at the mention of chocolate. "Yes, please." She grinned, somehow already bounced back to her unburdened, puppy-dog-like state.<br/><br/>"Not too much." Ray jokingly warned, as he stood too, grabbing Sara's hand and walking to the door.<br/><br/>"Be back soon." The woman called over her shoulder, following Ray outside and into the night.<br/><br/>It was just after dusk and they'd luckily worn jackets this afternoon so they weren't too cold for their second walk of the day. The headed down the street, leaving the stress of the family at the house. But that stress was soon replaced by the tension between them, and what they were meant to be to each other. Sara didn't want to think about it for a second. "I think," She began, wanting to stop Ray from bringing it up for just a moment, "If we do the fight club, you should do it."<br/><br/>"<em>Emily</em>," Ray started, "It doesn't--"<br/><br/>"I'll help you." She interrupted him, surprising them both. "I'll train with you."<br/><br/>To Ray, it didn't make sense why she would want him to participate instead of her. "Why?" He examined her as close as he could while walking beside her.<br/><br/>"I'd just be doing it all day... I'm not sure I'd want to come home and fight at night too, you know?" Sara attempted at a reason.<br/><br/>Ray still wasn't convinced, but was ready to leave it there if she wanted. "If you're sure..." He left the door open.<br/><br/>Sara crossed her arms the way she did when she was considering being vulnerable. It'd be easy, <em>so</em> easy to ice Ray out. Mostly because she knew that he fiercely respected her boundaries and would never force her to talk about something until she was ready. But even so, she knew that would be wrong, and a betrayal of his trust. How were they to do this mission as partners if she made these big decisions and wouldn't even share her reasoning. It wouldn't be fair. At very least, she owed him that. "I just..." She tried, then sighed. "I just wouldn't want to stand out too much."<br/><br/>And suddenly it made sense. She wasn't afraid of kicking peoples' asses or getting hurt, she was afraid of being <em>too </em>good and causing attention. And it all made sense. Of course she couldn't be expected to fight at half-power, it'd be dangerous for lots of reasons and dangerous for lots of people to put her in any fighting ring. As Ray looked down at her as they walked under a street lamp, he saw the same haunted look he saw in Juliette's eyes and in... Most of the Legends' eyes. It's a fear... a fear of being a monster and out of control. He realized that asking her to go in front of people and fight for recreation was a temptation for evil for Sara. He'd never ask her to do something like that.<br/><br/>"I... I understand." Ray assured her, "If it's something we get involved in, I'll do it. As long as you help me out." He playfully nudged her shoulder with his, which earned a scoff and a shove back.<br/><br/>He let them walk down the sidewalk for several strides in silence, but in truth, he had something he wanted to mention as well. Sara sensed it was coming, and fortified herself for the talk she didn't want to have. "Um, I know <em>this</em> is kinda weird." He subtly motioned between himself and the woman. "But, um? Maybe we need to be... Warmer to each other?... I'm not sure--" that they were being convincing.<br/><br/>"I know what you mean." Sara spared him from further stuttering by pulling herself closer to his arm. They spoke in quiet, hushed tones as to not be overheard. "You're right. I'm sorry." She said pensively.<br/><br/>"It's alright, <em>darling</em>." Ray attempted, immediately regretting it, especially after Sara's gagging laughs. "You're right, I'll keep trying."<br/><br/>"No," Sara laughed, "I like it. It's better than sweetheart." She was quiet for a moment. "Did you have any specific ideas?"<br/><br/>Ray shrugged. "Not really." He had never done anything like this before either. Especially not so long term or under such scrutiny. "I'd always seen you kind of like a sister." He admitted quietly, which pulled an unexpectedly strong emotion from Sara, until he ruined it. "So maybe we could be more like normal? Except, like, kiss? I dunno. And be more affectionate than normal."<br/><br/>Sara blanched, "Ew, okay. Weird route, never say that again." They both were giggling as they walked. "But I get it. Happier."<br/><br/>"Happier." He repeated. "You know, more relaxed? More... Fun."<br/><br/>Sara opened her mouth, like she was going to admit something, and Ray glanced at her with curiosity.<br/><br/>But Sara was frustrated, frustrated at herself. This hadn't been her first time pretending to be someone's partner for a mission. She'd done it before, many times, on many different missions. Missions that felt like there'd been lower stakes than their current one. Why wasn't she doing better at playing the role? At first she suspected it having something to do with Ray, but quickly dismissed the idea. He's a great partner; considerate and capable. And he's a good friend of her's, they'd been through a lot together and Sara trusted him. Sure, it was a little weird having to play an affection wife and doting parent along with him, as it wasn't a role she was accustomed to herself, but it shouldn't have been <em>so</em> weird to relate to him like that. Sara <em>trusted </em>him. She just hoped she got over whatever was holding her back soon.<br/><br/>Ray was still debating if he should ask what's on her mind or not, when they heard a door close from the house they were walking in front of. "Hey, neighbors!" A woman's voice called out, drawing their attention and slowing their feet. A man was following a woman out the front door, and shutting it behind himself.<br/><br/>"Hello!" Sara reacted first, searching her mind to that morning when they had met the couple that was now walking to meet them at the sidewalk, "The Robinsons, right?"<br/><br/>"Good memory!" The woman smiled, genuinely impressed. "I remember it took quite a while for us to sort out everyone's names." She laughed.<br/><br/>Ray joined along, "Oh, don't give us too much credit. I'm not sure I remember your first names."<br/><br/>"I'm Helena," the woman reminded them, "And this is Bobby."<br/><br/>"Oh, right." Sara looked over their faces again, committing it to memory, "Helena and Bobby. We got it now."<br/><br/>"Wanted to see more of the town?" Helena poked gently.<br/><br/>"Oh yeah," Ray easily laughed, "We just didn't get enough during today's walking tour."<br/><br/>Sara clarified, "We just wanted some fresh air. Before everything crazy starts tomorrow."<br/><br/>"We understand <em>that, </em>don't we honey?" Helena pulled a lofty laugh from her partner. "The first day is always the worst. Trying to figure out what's what."<br/><br/>"You'll do fine, though." Bobby spoke up, for the first time in the conversation, quick to assure the other couple. "I'd just show up ready to go, tomorrow. You'll be golden." He looked meaningfully between Sara and Ray. Sara considered his words a sort of warning, that they shouldn't expect to be eased into the work tomorrow. Good to know.<br/><br/>"Thank you." Ray smiled.<br/><br/>"But we really should be getting home." Sara wrapped herself just a little tighter around Ray's arm.<br/><br/>"Yes, of course." Helena conceded, "We'll be seeing you guys around. Good night, and good luck tomorrow!"<br/><br/>"Thank you, same to you." Ray allowed himself to be pulled away by Sara. The two shared an odd look, both surprised how <em>normal</em> of a conversation that was, and impressed with themselves. "Lets go home." Ray said.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Several blocks away, Martin had finished showering and decided to go check on what the rest of the team was up to. He passed Juliette's room and briefly noted her studying her manual on her bed, but continued on down the stairs to the living room. Upon finding Sara and Ray still gone, he put a kettle on for his tea. Then another one of milk. He was lost in humming a tune when he heard light feet pad down the stairs and noticed the girl's head poke around the corner.<br/><br/>"What are you doing?" She asked curiously, almost timidly approaching the stove.<br/><br/>Martin continued humming. "Making some tea, and some hot chocolate." He reached into a cabinet for the cocoa powder. "Here, come stir this." Martin measured out a cup of the powder then poured it into the pot and handed the girl a wooden spoon. "Careful, it's really hot." He warned.<br/><br/>Juliette was silent for a moment, pushing around the chunks until it dissolved more into the milk, turning it from pure white to darker brown. "So this is what hot chocolate is?" She observed to herself, "Coco-ah powder and..." She read the label, "Milk?" Obviously, she'd had milk before, but it was always served to her directly in a cup, she'd never seen it in such a container. It was fascinating to her. Everything was fascinating to her. It reminded her that just as things were new and scary, there was also such excitement in learning about things she'd never considered before. Like milk being in the oddly shaped container. She supposed she'd thought it always came in a cup, she'd never considered what happened <em>before </em>the cup.<br/><br/>Martin hummed in agreement. He could see the gears in the girl's mind turning just as the spoon in her hand, and was relieved that it seemed to be a pleasant train of thought this time. He thought the girl deserved that more often than she got.<br/><br/>"And tea, it's made of water and ground up leaves." Martin told her casually, taking the kettle off the burner, aware that the water wasn't quite hot enough yet but wishing to avoid the loud sound that came with it.<br/><br/>"What kind of leaves?" Juliette asked, pensively and serious. "Leaves off of any tree? Can I make tea with hot water and... That tree?" She pointed out the kitchen window to the sugar maple tree beside the drive way.<br/><br/>"No," Martin smiled endearingly, "It's a certain kind of leaf. There are different kinds of leaves, different kinds of tea. This is one of my favorites," He poured the hot water into a mug and steeped the tea bag, "Hibiscus."<br/><br/>The girl watched him interestedly, before eagerly returning to her own drink in the making. "When will my tea be done?"<br/><br/>"Hot chocolate isn't a tea, my dear girl." The old man chuckled. But Juliette was shameless, the smell teasing her of her favorite chocolate-y desserts she'd tried at the buffet the other day. "Does the cocoa look mixed?" He gently guided.<br/><br/>Juliette turned quickly to him, startling the doctor with wide, enthusiastic eyes. "Yeah." She nodded several times.<br/><br/>Martin peered over her shoulder, "See how it's still clumped when you stir?" He pointed out several spots for example, "It's not completely mixed yet. It won't taste as good." The girl's expression scrunched in annoyance, and finally, Martin witness a child-like expression that seemed appropriate on the girl. "It'll be just a couple more minutes, I assure you." He nudged her to keep stirring.<br/><br/>As silence began to settle between the two, Martin found himself wanting to continue conversation with the girl. "How's the reading going?" He nodded to the manual that the girl had abandoned on the kitchen island.<br/><br/>"Not great." She shrugged, suddenly very interested in the cocoa-milk mixture. "I have to choose which track to do tonight." Sensing there was more, Martin waited for the girl to take a beat. "I'm not sure which one to do, but I don't think I should take the test and leave it up to chance."<br/><br/>"I agree," Martin said, "Perhaps this should be a very careful decision."<br/><br/>Juliette stirred, distracted. "I'm... Not sure any decision I make will be right."<br/><br/>"Nonsense." Martin immediately dismissed, "The right decision will be whichever you decide, after careful consideration. There probably isn't any one, 'right' answer."<br/><br/>The girl looked at him with cautious eyes. "You think so?"<br/><br/>"I know so." The man had never felt so sure of himself as he did when assuring the girl. Besides, she had the Legends behind her. They'd figure it out. "So, what are the options again?"<br/><br/>"Protection and enforcement, culture and assimilation, explosive weapons, non-explosive weapons, counterintelligence and resistance, cyber-works, and leadership." Juliette rattled off, clearly having spent time memorizing and agonizing over her choices.<br/><br/>"Are there any that we can immediately eliminate?" He prompted, finally taking the first sip of his tea and subsequently deciding it need a few more moments to cool off.<br/><br/>The girl nodded, "Leadership. I wouldn't have any business in that." She laughed, self-aware enough to know her limitations.<br/><br/>"And I hope you hadn't set your heart on any kind of weapons training." Martin playfully ruled out, "No way would Sara let you go through that."<br/><br/>Although the weapons tracks had sounded interesting, Juliette had never really considered them for herself. The idea that Sara would be concerned enough for her to forbade those options out of fear for Juliette's safety, though, had the girl's heart soaring. No one had ever seemed to care about what's best for her, only for how she could <em>preform</em> the best work or tasks for them. As crazy as all of this stuff was, Juliette was once again comforted by the reminder that the Legends were looking out for her now, in this moment.<br/><br/>"Do you know anything about computers?" Martin tried.<br/><br/>Juliette shook her head. They'd used screens and virtual reality hookups in the lab, but she'd been tightly monitored and strictly forbidden from learning how to operate the systems. They were meant to control her, not her control them. "Not really."<br/><br/>"So lets throw that one out as well." Martin suggested. "That leaves us with three, right?"<br/><br/>"Protection and enforcement, culture and assimilation, and counterintelligence and resistance." She surmised. "Maybe we should eliminate the culture and assimilation one, too?" She said, regretfully remembering that was the one Laura was in. "I don't even know anything about <em>this</em> culture."<br/><br/>"Alright." Martin took another huge gulp of his tea, which was just becoming a comfortable drinking temperature. "So how do we feel between the remaining two?" To him, the decision between protection and counterintelligence seemed easy. A protection and enforcement track sounded like it'd be filled with a bunch of muscular young men used as body guards and police officers to be bold and crass. That didn't exactly seem to describe what he knew of the girl, not that he'd tell her so. He'd already resolved to support whichever decision she ultimately came to, though he knew she'd need to be informed and advised along the way.<br/><br/>"I think..." The girl paused, considering the weight of her words, "That counterintelligence seems like the best answer. The manual was describing it as a softer combination of protection and assimilation. I think I can do that."<br/><br/>Martin watched as she spoke, seeming to become more firm and sure in her conclusion. "Well done, girl." Martin praised, "You have made a very sound and empirical decision, by trusting yourself and using your logic. Well done."</p><p>Juliette couldn't bring herself to even thank him for the high praise and encouragement, she was so wrapped up in the feeling of accomplishment. She smiled at her feet, which were bare and cool against the kitchen tile.<br/><br/>"Alrighty," The man peered over her shoulder again, "Your hot chocolate looks thoroughly mixed. Lets get that into a mug for you." The girl watched as he pulled the pot to the sink and poured the liquid into a light blue mug Martin had found in the cabinets. "Clarke, will you look in that cabinet there," He pointed to one to her left. "And grab a small container labeled 'cinnamon'?"</p><p>"This?" The girl quickly found it and showed it to Martin for confirmation. After his nod, she walked it to him. "What is it?"</p><p>"Cinnamon is a spice that's sweet in small amounts. Hot chocolate is best with a bit of cinnamon on top." He sprinkled some on and placed the mug in front of the girl on the island. He watched with baited breath as she took the mug with both hands. Sensing that it was hot, she blew softly on the drink, as she'd watched Martin do with his tea several minutes before.</p><p>Juliette took the tiniest sip and her eyes shot open. "Woah!" She physically restrained herself from jumping up and down like all the taste buds in her mouth were doing. "This is amazing!" Her brilliant smile had every single pearly tooth on display. "I've never tasted anything as <em>amazing</em> as this is!" She took another small sip then beamed up at Martin.</p><p>The front door open, and an unsuspecting and weary-looking Sara and Ray reentered the house. "What's happening?" Ray noted the commotion in the kitchen.</p><p>"Have you guys ever had <em>hot chocolate</em>?" The girl pronounced the drink's name with a holy reverence.</p><p>Sara laughed, glancing at Martin to note how bizarre the girl's reaction was. "Yeah, once or twice." She followed Ray the few steps to the kitchen.</p><p>"Me too." Ray agreed, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge "What are your thoughts? We like it?"</p><p>"We <em>love</em> it." The girl gushed. "It's the best thing I've ever had. <em>Ever</em>." </p><p>As she was speaking, Sara noticed the very object of the girl's affections begin to slip from her hands and a quick hand darted underneath the mug to stop it from falling completely. "Easy there, Bean." She guided the girl's hands to set the mug on the counter.</p><p>"Sorry," Juliette was not at all apologetic. "I got so excited!"</p><p>"So we need to keep a full stock of hot chocolate. Lovely." Martin noted affectionately. "How was your walk?"</p><p>Sara and Ray shared a shrugged look. "It was nice." Ray supplied, "It was only a little chilly and we ran into the Robinsons."</p><p>Martin didn't at all remember who that was. "And they are?..."</p><p>"Just a couple. Really tall woman and a guy who was really quiet." Sara crossed her arms as she leaned against the counter, "They were here this morning." There really wasn't much else to discuss about them. "So, uh, how we feeling about tomorrow?" She glanced between the old man and the girl, both of them knowing full and well that she was mostly just checking up on the girl. She'd scope out Martin's feelings out later, privately.</p><p>"Great." Juliette took another large gulp, leaning back near the edge of the stove to appear more relaxed like the rest of the team. "<em>Granpa</em> helped me pick a track for school."</p><p>Both Ray and Sara's eyebrows shot up with surprise. "And what did you guys decide?" Ray inquired. He was intrigued to hear what the girl had come up with.</p><p>"Counterintelligence and resistance." The girl nervously fixated on her mug, avoiding eye contact in case anyone had strong objections. None came.</p><p>"The sounds great," Sara assured, "Maybe we can look through that section of the manual in a bit?"</p><p>"Yeah, of course." For the first time since she'd picked up the hot chocolate, a hand left the mug and moved itself behind the girl to help push her up. Ray, Sara, and Martin watched in slow motion as the stray hand neared where the burner was still red with heat.</p><p>Not able to conjure a word to stop her actions fast enough, Martin called out "Wait." Sara, on the other hand, only acted. She lunged towards the girl and grabbed at her arm. But she'd been just slightly too late, only pulling her wrist up a second after Juliette's skin had touched the hot stove, noted by the way the girl's hand was already flinching away from the heat.</p><p>Sara wasn't sure what reaction she expected. She guessed it'd be tears or something close, and the girl seeking comfort and aid for her injury. An image of the girl crying in one of their arms only briefly crossed her mind. What she hadn't expected, though, was how Juliette actually responded to the shock. Or really, <em>didn't</em> react. A quiet whimper left the girl's mouth and she looked down in confusion as Sara turned her palm up to inspect the damage. The girl didn't seem surprised at her injury but caught off guard by <em>how</em> it happened.</p><p>"The stove is hot, Sweetheart." Sara noticed the edge Ray was trying to keep out of his voice. "We gotta be careful." He was already looking around the kitchen for any useful first aid material.</p><p>"There's a kit in the bathroom upstairs." Martin supplied. "I'll grab it." He started up the stairs.</p><p>Juliette looked from the blistering skin, to where Sara was holding her wrist, to Sara's face, to Ray's with a reappearance of her forehead crinkle. They were coming to understand that was a quality she displayed when she was making sense of some new information. "It, was... Hot?" The girl asked, glancing back down to the scene of the offending object.</p><p>"Yeah, Bean." Sara gave her a confused smile. "Stoves use electricity to make the surface really hot for cooking."</p><p>"Oh." is all the girl said, allowing Sara to raise the hand for closer inspection.</p><p>The afflicted skin covering the outside pad of the girl's palm was already red and swelling.</p><p>"Clarke," Ray leaned in for a closer look too. "Did that hurt?"</p><p>"Mhmm." Juliette whimpered again, the only indication to any pain she felt.</p><p>Ray and Sara were at a loss by how oddly the girl reacted to the pain, when they <em>know</em> that had to hurt. Maybe they would've addressed it, but Juliette was spared the questions as Martin clobbered down the stairs with the first aid kit.</p><p>Several minutes later, after the burn had been treated and covered, the girl had been pulled from her confusion to explain how they landed with her track decision. Having Sara and Ray onboard, they sent her upstairs to get ready for bed with strict instructions of avoiding messing with her hand and that they'd be up to say good night in a bit. Bewildered but at that point, just so exhausted, the adults spent the rest of their evenings reviewing their own manuals, discussing strategies for the next day, and honestly just hoping for the best.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>